Kill Me Crimson
by xflightofthephoenix
Summary: The next tournament's coming up, and there are a few surprises in store for Kai and his team. Will everything be alright, or will it tear the team apart? R&R! i'll write it here, i don't own Beyblade.
1. It Begins

Ray's POV

**MUST READ**

**Hi All!! I'm back! **

'**Soul Reborn' fell flat on its face, so I decided to write this instead. It's a totally stand alone story, no connection with ANY happenings in 'Slaughter Of The Soul'. (Just for your info)**

**This story takes place after the first season of Beyblade, therefore the teams are, as they were back in the good old days :) no team-switching before the story begins or anything, it just confuses everyone, especially me!**

**And to clarify, Kai is (as he is in my other stories) the YOUNGEST teen of the group, and is therefore the SHORTEST. He's 15. Ages are ROUGHLY as follows**

**Bladebreakers**

**Kenny – 16**

**Tyson – 17**

**Max – 17**

**Ray – 17**

**Kai – 15**

**Demolition Boys**

**Tala – 18**

**Bryan – 19**

**Spencer – 19**

**Ian - (doesn't exist – because he annoys me!)**

**Majestics**

**Oliver – 18**

**Enrique – 18**

**Johnny – 17**

**Robert – 19**

**White Tigers**

**Mariah – 16**

**Lee – 17**

**(those are the only two that will really get a mention)**

**AllStars**

**Michael – 19**

**Emily – 17**

**Eddie – 18**

**(If I've missed anyone just tell me in a review and I'll put it up in the next chapter)**

**What else…um, oh yeah, don't forget to review, or this story's going the same way as 'Soul Reborn'. Which, while we're on the subject, won't OFFICIALLY be ended just yet, if you're one of the loyal readers, who read "Slaughter Of The Soul" and the beginning of "Soul Reborn" then tell me what you think. Lack of reviews made me stop it, a few encouraging words, may make me reconsider. But ANYWAY! Back to this story! Reviews are a MUST! You have no idea XD**

**Something very quick before we begin, thank you to Miak06, who's one of my loyal reader's who was a HUGE influence to this idea, and also to phoenix-falling who is again one of my loyal readers (and an awesome friend) and she helped me with the title :) big thank you both of you!! **

**NOW On with the story!!**

**XXX**

**Ray's POV**

I sighed as I watched Tyson launch Dragoon again. The silver blade wobbled before spinning out in the dirt. Tyson growled loudly "WHY CAN'T I DO THIS?!" he launched Dragoon again, and again the silver blade wobbled and stopped. He wiped his cheek, smearing dirt across his face, his clothes weren't in a much better state, they were covered with smears of dusty dirt, his jeans a little torn where he caught them on a branch of the tree while retrieving his blade which managed to bounce of a rock and land on one of the topmost branches, meaning Tyson had to climb up and get it. His hat was long forgotten, thrown on the grass a few meters away and his hair was falling out of the hair-tie, little leaves stuck in it here and there, not to mention the dust from the dry ground which had clung to it. In short, he looked a mess. The rest of us however, had stayed perfectly tidy, it was just Tyson that had the issues.

"Concentrate" I sighed.

"Come on Tyson!" Robert encouraged with a smile "Just concentrate and you'll get the hang of it!"

Tyson growled again, loudly and ran his hand through his messy hair, brushing a few leaves out in the process "I don't understand why Dragoon needed upgrading anyway!" he crossed his arms and stared at his motionless blade. He then stepped forward and picked up the silver metal object and his hat, which he placed angrily back on his head

"Because, Tyson, we're entering a tournament in a few months and you're blade needs to be a whole lot stronger to win!" Kenny explained, his glasses flashing in the sunlight, Dizzi was whirring and buzzing in the background as she analyzed Tyson's control and stats.

"Maybe we should take a break?" Max looked at Kai, who was leaning against the side of the dojo, silently watching Tyson attempt to control the increased power Dragoon now possessed.

Said bluenette looked up at Max with intense crimson eyes, sensing himself being watched. He nodded and Tyson shot inside, faster than I've ever seen him move. Kai sighed as the wind gently blew his bangs from his eyes.

I smiled as the group made our way inside, Kai hung back and readied Dranzer to do some training alone. I nodded and pulled the door shut, leaving him to train in peace.

**Kai's POV**

'_At this rate we're not going to be ready in time for this tournament' _I thought angrily _'Tyson has NO control over Dragoon'_ I sighed as I replaced Dranzer into her launcher and sent her shooting back onto the grass. I glanced up at the mid-day sun before looking down at Dranzer who continued to spin steadily on her spot. The wind blew gently again and I sighed.

After almost half an hour, the group of teens returned, I picked Dranzer up, and took my place against the Dojo wall, observing as everyone held small battles between themselves. I watched each member of my team carefully

Max: Has improved greatly. His defense was definitely his strength, his attack was mediocre but with defense like that he didn't need to attack, he could easily wear the opponent out.

Ray: He was always one of the very best, and he'd improved to keep that title, I'm not worried about Ray losing any of his matches, I have confidence he'll do fine

Tyson: Is going downhill. Kenny attempted to help him, but he's just made everything worse, and now Tyson can't even control his beyblade let alone battle with it.

"I think I've got it!" I heard Tyson yell triumphantly, effectively dragging me from my thoughts. I looked over as Dragoon spun around Galleon. Lee smiled as Tyson punched the air enthusiastically

**Ray's POV**

"Not good enough Tyson" Kai stated, somewhat coldly "If you plan to win this tournament, you need to do a LOT better than that!"

"Give him a break!" I argued, Kai glanced at me, but didn't say another word. He closed his eyes and leant back against the wall, ignoring the entire group.

XXX

As the day's training finally drew to an end we decided to eat and watch a film, then sleep.

Grandpa Granger placed plates of food on the table and we all slowly began to eat, Tyson on the other hand couldn't get enough food in his mouth. Kai sighed

"Must you eat like a pig?" he snarled as Tyson attempted to shove yet another vegetable into his already full mouth

"Yes!" was the muffled reply from Tyson who successfully managed to cram more food into his oversized mouth.

"Tyson chew with your mouth shut!" Emily scolded… The AllStars, Majestics, White Tigers and Demolition Boys were all staying with us to train up for the next tournament. It was quite nice to see them all again. Not to mention Kai had perked up seeing his old team-mates, not that he'd ever admit it.

"What film did you guys wanna watch?" Tyson asked just before he washed his meal down with an entire glass of water

"Didn't even think of that!" Max chuckled as he quietly put his knife and fork on the wooden table, Tyson however slammed his glass down with a smile

"Shall we go and have a look?!" he asked, Max nodded enthusiastically and the pair jumped up to find a good movie.

I glanced over at Kai who was picking slowly at his food "You should really eat more of that" I told him, he glanced up at me expressionlessly "Grandpa Granger might take it the wrong way" He looked back down at his plate and took another small mouthful.

I smiled and turned to Mariah "Are you all prepared for this tournament?" I asked

"You bet!" she smiled "but you seem to be getting ahead of yourself mister, we've still got two months left until the tournament!" I chuckled in embarrassment and stood up

"I'll go check they've not started arguing" I laughed and headed down the old Japanese-style corridor. As I rounded the corner into the living room, I had to instantly duck as a DVD box flew past me

"That movie's boring!" Tyson whined angrily, referring to the thrown object

"It's a GOOD movie!" Max chuckled "And besides, YOU suggested we watch it Tyson!" Max burst into laughter as Tyson turned a dark shade of crimson

"Oops!" he laughed and jumped up to retrieve the DVD "Oh, hey Ray!" I smiled as he picked the box up

"Decided have we?" I asked swishing my braid behind me

"Yeah" Tyson chuckled and scratched the back of his head. I laughed at the pair of them, then noticed just how many DVD's were scattered across the floor

"I hope you're going to clear this mess up?" I laughed as Tyson nodded and the pair of them began to pick up the boxes and stack them neatly on the shelf again

I headed back to the table leaving the pair to clear up, I sat back down and smiled "They've picked a DVD, they're just clearing away the rest" I glanced at the other occupants of the table. The demolition boys were having a quiet Russian conversation, but stopped politely realizing it was rude and also that I was watching. Kai was still staring at his plate, which he had pushed away from himself. It's weird how little we all know about him, the Demolition Boys seem to know the most of all of us, but they wouldn't dare tell us.

Mariah smiled at me, and Johnny spoke "Shall we go then?" he asked impatiently

We walked down to the living room, where Max and Tyson had just loaded up the DVD. I sat on one of the many sofa's with the White Tigers. The rest of the teams sat on the other sofas and Kai leant against the wall at the back, watching the rest of the group darkly.

The movie began and the first hour dragged on and on, after just half an hour I became aware that Kai had already lost interest and left, presumably to train. So I snuck away to go and get in some extra practice.

I pushed open the sliding back door and wandered into the now dark garden, lit by small lamps dotted around.

At the far end of the garden I could see a red flash and realized it was Dranzer, I made my down carefully and stopped just a few feet from my stoic captain

"Yes?" he snarled, I jumped not realizing he knew I was here

"I was just wondering if you wanted someone to train with?" Kai turned to look at me, his eyes slightly wide that I would be OFFERING to train with him. I smiled, it wasn't often you can surprise Kai.

"Sure" he turned back round, stony expression already back in place. I launched Drigger and began training a little distance away.

"Come on Drigger! Show me what you're made of!" I commanded as my faithful tiger dodged rocks and other obstacles. Very suddenly a red flash shot passed my blade and I smiled as Kai faced me, His blade spinning furiously a few feet from my own. We engaged in a small bey-battle, nothing too strenuous at this time of night, and we didn't really want the other teams to hear the commotion and come outside.

We ended a few minutes later with my blade motionless, Kai's wobbling ferociously at his feet. "Good match" he complimented

"Uh thanks" I replied, somewhat shocked

"You'll do fine in this tournament, it's Tyson who should be out here training" Kai explained

I nodded in agreement "he needs to get a grip of the new power he controls" Kai nodded before picking up the now motionless Dranzer.

"We should get some rest, I'm sure we'll be training tomorrow?" I smiled as Kai nodded in reply. "Night Kai" I smiled as he walked inside and too the shared bedroom. I sat back down in the living room, it was obvious I'd been gone, but no-one was bothered.

Eventually the film ended and we all went to bed. Kai was sat on the windowsill watching the night sky, no-one bothered to tell him to sleep as well, Kai would always be the first up, followed by the demolition boys.

I fell asleep staring out the window with a smile on my face, thinking about the upcoming tournament.

XXX

**Kai's POV**

I was first up, as per usual. I headed out into the garden straight away, the more training I did now, the less I had to do when the other's were around.

I launched Dranzer, She span around the garden furiously for a few minutes and I decided that it wasn't her that needed the training, it was me.

I decided to start with press-ups, and then sit-ups. At least a hundred of each. I moved on to using my knees to hang from the lowest branch of the tree, and pulling myself up. As I dropped back down I noticed Tala there, I dropped from the tree gracefully and stood up to face Tala as he walked over

"**Morning Tala"** I said in Russian

"**Morning, you alright?" **he laughed as I dusted myself down

"Just getting some training in before every one else wakes up" Tala nodded and smiled

"Well, you're definitely earlier than everyone else, it's only just gone 6am" he laughed as I smirked

"Do you usually end up on the floor when you train?" Tala chuckled, I shook my head, dismissing his question. I headed for the gate in a decision to go for a jog, Tala decided to join and we jogged in relative silence for a long time. He eventually broke the silence as we stopped for a rest at the local park

"You know, you should talk to your team more, they'd appreciate it" he looked at me seriously

"You've been talking to Ray right?" I asked with a hint of anger in my tone

"Not exactly, but we can all see that you never talk to them" I glared at him for a moment before taking off at a jog again. He caught up within a minute and we again jogged, this time in total silence. The only sound that could be heard was our feet on the pavement as we ran.

As we finally got back to the Dojo I carried on my own training, Tala wandered back inside and a few hours later the others were outside training and I was stood watching.

Eventually Tyson got the hang of his new blade and was getting back up to scratch for the tournament.

"WOO!!" he jumped in the air triumphantly as Ray wandered back out with Sandwiches made by himself for the entire group. I decided against eating and did a few more sit-ups around the corner away from the chattering group.

After just fifteen minutes I decided to walk back round and I sat with the group, although I didn't give any input to the conversation, Tyson was doing enough of that by himself. He was practically shouting about the upcoming tournament, I smirked at his stupidity, but I also realized that I'd miss the entire group if they were to go anywhere.

"Yo T-Dawg!" Grandpa called from the doorway

"What is it Gramps?" Tyson turned to face his Grandpa

"Mr. D wants to see all of ya as soon as" I looked at Tala, the thought of Voltaire flashed across my mind, but it was soon stamped out at the thought that he was safely locked away in prison, along with Boris.

"Uh, shall we go then?" Tyson looked at the group, receiving various nods and agreements.

We walked to the huge BBA office, at the other side of town. As we walked in I stepped forward to speak to the receptionist. "We're here to see Mr. Dickenson" I stated

"Ah, yes, he said he was expecting a group of teens" she smiled

"And?" I asked her

"Uh…he's on the sixth floor" I nodded in thanks and headed for the stairs.

"Why are we taking the stairs?!" Tyson groaned

"Can you see us all fitting in that lift?!" Max asked, Tyson laughed at his own stupidity.

"Oh yeah, let's go then!" we made our way up the stairs and eventually found Mr. Dickenson's office. I knocked quietly and heard his voice through the door

"Come in!" I pushed the door open, Mr. Dickenson was sat at his desk looking through some papers, and there was a stranger stood at the back of the room. I glanced up at the man and decided to keep my eye on him, there was something a little strange about him.

"Now, there are two reasons I've brought you here today" Mr. Dickenson began "The first is to tell you all that the tournament starts in 2 months 3 days, you will have that long to train, and in roughly a week you will be flown to Russia, where the tournament is to take place" Everyone nodded and stood still

"And the other reason?" Ray asked

"Ah yes, I need to speak to Kai alone, if you wouldn't mind waiting outside, or if you would prefer you can head back to the Dojo." I tilted my head slightly in question, why would Mr. D want to speak to me?

The group left, quietly closing the door behind them

"Now, Kai, I expect you're quite confused as to why I want to speak to you" Mr. Dickenson began…

**Tyson's POV**

As the rest of the teams, including Max and Ray began to walk away, I decided to stick around, and listen to what Mr. Dickenson had to say to Kai, Ray turned around seeing me not following

"Tyson don't even think about it" Max stated "You can't listen to their conversation, there is a REASON as to why Mr. Dickenson asked to speak to Kai alone" He paused "He didn't want us to hear! Don't be so thoughtless Tyson it could be something quite personal!" I growled by the door until Tala stepped forward

"Enough!" he commanded, I jumped, totally forgetting that Kai's childhood friends were stood there. "Let's go!" I decided not to argue and followed him obediently

**Kai's POV**

"Yes?" I asked, intrigued as to why Mr. Dickenson wanted to speak to me

"Kai. I have something to tell you" I looked at Mr. Dickenson, almost afraid of what he was about to say "This is Susumu" he indicated the man stood behind him

"And?" I replied rudely

"Susumu, is your father Kai" I felt my heart skip a beat…..my father?!

"Son I've missed you!" he stepped forward, and I took a step back to look at him. He had dark mahogany eyes, and his hair was almost black, he had pale skin, much like my own and he was built just like myself only taller and slightly more muscular. He was wearing just a pair of simple jeans and a black top. I looked him up and down and took another step back.

"If you missed me, why has it taken you 15 years to find me?"

"Kai don't be like this" Mr. Dickenson pleaded, seeing my temper beginning to flare

"Don't be like WHAT?!" I slammed my fist into the wall behind me

"Kai…son!" Suddenly Susumu stepped forward and pulled me into a hug, I flinched and tried to pull away and eventually he let me go

"Now I understand you may be upset Kai, but this is your father, give him another chance!" Mr. Dickenson explained

"Why should I?!" I again punched the wall and Susumu took a step back

"I see he has his mothers temper" Susumu stated

"Leave my mother OUT of this!" I snarled, ho dare he bring up my mother?!

"Ahem….Kai, Susumu, as your biological father, would like you to stay with him in Russia until, and after the tournament" Mr. Dickenson explained slowly

I gave my father a suspicious look "Do I have a choice?" I asked angrily

"Well, no but we would rather you were happy with this arrangement" I looked at him for a moment before nodding.

"You know, I've always been proud of you" Susumu said softly

**Mr. Dickenson's POV**

"Then why were you never there for me?!" Kai snarled

"Because I couldn't bear to see you, you reminded me so much of your mother" Kai's father explained

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Kai turned around and punched the wall, Susumu jumped away in fright almost, no shock.

"Kai calm down!" I commanded, Kai instantly stopped and looked at me

"You're going to be staying with your father when you get to Russia in a week. I suggest you deal with whatever issues you may have in the week you have until you leave. Do you understand?" I almost shouted – maybe a little too forcefully. Kai pulled his stony expression on and gave me an angry look, before he turned on his heel and left swiftly, slamming the door as he went.

"That COULD have gone worse" I stated optimistically.

**Kai's POV**

My thoughts were all over the place on the walk home. My father turned up after what? 15 years of nothing, and expected me to just forgive him and live with him? I growled in anger as I turned into the Dojo

I bumped into Tala as I walked in; "What happened?!" he demanded as soon as I had straightened myself up again.

I opened my mouth to speak, but didn't know what to say, Tala wouldn't be impressed that Mr. Dickenson sprang this on me now…hell **I** wasn't impressed he sprang this on me now!

"Well?" He looked at me and started tapping his foot

**Tala's POV**

A look of hurt flashed across Kai's eyes "Kai?" I asked unsurely

"That man was my father" he whispered

"Your FATHER?!" I hissed, Kai nodded and looked at the floor. "What does he want?" I snarled angrily

"I'm living with him when we get to Russia" Kai looked up at me, his eyes held only sorrow

"Can't you refuse?" I asked

Kai shook his head "No. I've not really got much choice" he looked me in the eyes before deciding to look back at the ground again.

I sighed not knowing what to say, he obviously wasn't impressed at meeting his father. But didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Well. I'm sure everything will work out just fine" I smiled softly and Kai looked up at me (I'm about a head taller than he is). Honestly? I don't really believe a word of what I just said, Kai'll hate it, his father and he will argue and he'll move out. THEN everything will be ok.

"We should train" Kai stated, as an evasion of any further questions, I respected his choice and nodded.

As training began, Kai stood against the wall, completely lost in his thoughts. No-one dared to disturb him; he was in a foul mood and was best just left alone.

XXX

As the evening finally arrived and training stopped we found ourselves sat around the dinner table. Kai pushed his food around his plate for a few minutes before eating some of his vegetables, but none of the meat Ray had cooked for us. Ray didn't seem too bothered though, Kai rarely ate and entire meal anyway.

"We've got a few hours to kill" Tyson stretched in his seat "We watched movies last night, so what does everyone want to do?" he looked around, but no-one said anything.

"Well, we didn't watch all your movies?" Max laughed "Come on guys! There must be SOMETHING we can all do!"

"Like what?" Johnny asked agitatedly.

"I'll go put a film on" Tyson sighed and stood up to find a film. Kai glanced up but said nothing.

"I'll be training" he stated coldly and stood from the table. He glanced over the table and left quickly without another word.

**Kai's POV**

I pulled the rip-cord from my launcher and allowed Dranzer to spin around the garden for a moment before deciding to work on my blading skills.

XXX

I looked up as the sky began to darken, the stars began to shine in the sky and I smiled, Tala and I used to watch the stars through the barred windows of the Abbey all the time. Just as the thought entered my mind, the door to the Dojo slid open and Tala stepped out. I smiled realizing he actually came out for the very reason I had previously been thinking about. He stopped next to me and looked up

"Just like old times" he looked down at me as I nodded

"Yeah." I replied quietly. We stood in silence for a few moments, enjoying the view of the sky and each other's company. Tala broke the silence

"We should go inside, we've only got a few more days here to train, and we really don't know what the training facilities will be like at Russia" I nodded and picked up Dranzer. We walked back inside and headed straight to sleep.

XXX

I was, as usual the first up in the morning. I got up straight away and went straight out to train as usual. I found my thoughts however, constantly drifting from training, and to my father.

XXX

**Tala's POV**

I woke up fairly early, as I sat up, I glanced around the room and smiled, Kai was already outside training. I got up slowly and made my way outside. Kai was training, and as I began to walk, Dranzer shot off into a tree. I stopped for a second…Kai was totally lost in his thoughts. I decided it would be best to let him think things out before I bothered him, however as I turned to leave, he spoke

"Morning" was all he said, I turned around and smiled

"Morning" I nodded as I spoke. "You alright?" I asked, he smiled and nodded

"Yeah. Just trying to get my head around things" I nodded in understanding.

We came to the silent agreement to train to take his mind off things. And we must have trained for hours, as soon we found the rest of the teens watching as we held a small battle. I could tell Kai was deliberately keeping to simple moves, giving anything away in a small friendly battle would surely destroy his chances in the actual tournament. So, to match his plan, I did the same. The battle didn't last long, we didn't really stop it, we just drifted off and did our own individual training instead.

I looked at Kai…._'the next few weeks are going to be very difficult and long, But Kai being Kai will pull through just fine.' _I thought with a soft smile as I watched Kai's determination at his training.

**XXX**

**End of Chapter 1 :)**

**I wrote that fairly fast, considering I've JUST gone back to college so pretty soon I'm going to be swamped with work, however, if I get some positive feedback and some interest in this, then I'll definitely make time to write it, otherwise I won't see the point and it'll remain as this one chapter.**

**One a lighter note YAY! An entire new story!!**

**Reviewing is vital – push the purple button, you know you want to. :)**

**xflightofthephoenix**


	2. In Russia

Tala's POV

**Tala's POV**

All too soon, I found myself training on the last day before our departure for Russia. I hadn't stopped thinking about Kai's father, whose name I was still unaware of, not that I should let it bother me, Kai would tell me when he was ready, and if all else fails I'm sure we'll all be introduced when we arrive.

Strangely though, I think it is just Bryan, Spencer and myself that know of Kai's 'accommodation' upon arrival in Russia. I suppose it was just that he didn't particularly need to bother of the others worrying about him. As Wolborg stopped spinning, I glanced up at Kai, he was leaning against the wall, his head slightly downcast to the ground, but I was well aware that he was watching his team through his slate bangs.

Kai's been totally off in his own world these past few days, and can you really blame him? Sure everyone knows something's bothering him, however not a single person has yet asked him what's wrong. They're gonna get a shock when we arrive in Russia. I smirked imagining Tyson staring, totally bewildered at Kai's father when the story is explained. I did feel slightly guilty that his team was none-the-wiser to the happenings, they should have been the first to know, but I can't exactly force him to explain.

I looked over at Kai again, he had stopped watching his team and was well and truly in his own world, his eyes were wide as he thought carefully about, at a guess, his father. I couldn't imagine what was going through his head. I had never known my father, my mother I only knew at a very young age, until I was about 4, and then I was sent to the abbey, Kai however, never knew either of his parents, his father left when he was young, and Kai's mother….well, I don't really know much about her, Kai's never thought to tell me and I daren't pry into his past. I do however know that he was alone at the age of one, when Mr. Dickenson had him sent to an orphanage. Kai stayed at the run-down shit-hole until his fifth birthday, following which he was sent to the abbey.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard scuffing feet. Training was over for lunch. I joined the group of people heading inside, Kai was trailing behind still lost in thought, so I left him to it.

We sat at the table and Ray brought out some light food for lunch, everyone began to tuck in, while Kai continued to stare at the table. I exchanged an uneasy glance with Bryan; He's beginning to cope with this less.

"Yo dude!" I turned to look at Tyson, who was trying to get Kai's attention "Earth to Kai!" He laughed as Kai continued to stare at his plate

"Kai?" Max asked rather loudly

Suddenly Kai's head whipped up to look at the teens that disturbed him. "Hn?"

"Dude, you gonna eat anything?" Tyson asked, Kai shook his head in response

"Are we still training this afternoon?" Max asked

"Do whatever you want; I'm not your babysitter!" Kai snapped. Max looked at the bluenette in disbelief with wide eyes

"There's no need to be like that Kai!" Ray scolded; Kai just looked at him, before looking back down at his empty plate. Ray watched him for a few long seconds with a concerned expression plastered onto his feline features; Kai however seemed totally unaware that most occupants of the table were now watching him.

"Kai" Ray spoke again "You are not leaving this table until you eat something." I heard Johnny snicker as Kai looked over at Ray with an icy glare, the anti-social teen, very suddenly stood up and left the Dojo, not giving Ray or anyone else a chance to tell him to do anything.

I looked again at Bryan who watched out the window as Kai presumably began training again.

"I swear he does it JUST to annoy me!" Ray growled as he shoved the remainder of his sandwich on his plate. Johnny snickered again and shoved some food into his mouth.

"I'm sure Kai has his reasons Ray, other than to annoy you" Max reassured with a wide grin "And besides, we don't have to train for the afternoon!"

Ray smiled and began to clear the table. As we stood up, I glanced out of the window, to see Kai sitting in the blossom tree thinking. I had thought about going out to talk to him, but decided it best to leave him to it.

XXX

Much to Max and Tyson's dismay, getting the afternoon off, just meant that they had to spend their free afternoon packing for Russia tomorrow. Most of us other's were living out of our suitcases anyways; there wasn't much storage space for all of us. So it was only really Max, Tyson, Ray and Kai who had to pack, but by the looks of things, Kai was well ahead, probably used it as a way to take his mind off things. So, while Max, Tyson and Ray packed their items, we watched films, and sat outside in the sun, it was the last warm weather we'd see for a while, in Russia the sun shines, but most of the time is lost behind grey clouds.

As the evening finally came in, Kai could STILL be found sitting in the tree in the back garden. We were all sat inside as it began to rain, and Kai had to be told to come inside after sitting outside dripping for ten minutes.

He dried himself off and sat down next to me in the living room as we watched Tyson and Max call out all the different types of pizzas we could order.

After almost half an hour of discussing we came to a decision on the pizzas we wanted and Tyson ran off to order them. Kai spent the entire exchange silently staring out the rain-splattered window.

XXX

After half an hour of Tyson's constant whining the pizzas eventually arrived. Tyson and Max almost launched themselves at the delivery man, who looked petrified to say the very least. He quickly shoved the boxes in Tyson's arms and took the money from Max and left hurriedly. I smirked as the two bounced back with the pizzas. We all grabbed slices and slowly ate, all of us, not including Kai. He sat staring out the window again, he hadn't eaten for a long while and I was beginning to worry at the state he was driving himself into, he'd lost a fair amount of weight for just a few days. Bryan looked at me, then down at his own slice of pizza, thinking something along the same lines as I was. Before I could utter a word, Bryan stood up, another slice of pizza in hand, he walked over to Kai. He stood next the daydreaming bluenette until he noticed, upon which Bryan shoved the pizza under his nose. Kai flinched back with the sudden movement, expecting some form of pain. He looked at the food for a few long moments before taking it slowly from Bryan, who nodded and returned to his seat.

Most of the occupants of the room were watching Kai at this point, He slowly took a bite and the teens looked away to continue their conversations.

Kai slowly made his way through the slice of pizza, it took him an age and he struggled to finish it, but eventually managed it. We made eye contact and I smiled letting him know that I was happier now he'd eaten. He looked back outside the window without giving me a smile or even just a look of acknowledgement. I sighed and took another bite of my pizza.

XXX

The evening finally came to a close and at about 11:00pm the group began to thin as people headed for bed.

Tyson yawned loudly and headed off, leaving Ray, Kai, Bryan and myself sat in the living room, the TV flickering silently in the background. The room fell silent, it was unbearably awkward. Kai suddenly stood up and scanned the room

"Bed" He stated, a single word and Ray got up with a yawn and began to walk to the bedroom

"Night" He replied, yawning. He closed the bedroom door and I looked at him sternly.

"You're not dealing with this Kai. Stop running" I snarled as he looked out the window, he looked back at me, but again said nothing. "You can't ignore this Kai!" I snapped, he continued to stare at me angrily, after a few more moments I looked away from his icy gaze, he heard him "hmph" In satisfaction before he crossed the room and left through the back door. I glanced at Bryan, who shrugged

"I guess we leave him to it?" he asked

"Yeah, let's get some sleep, we'll hear him when he get's back" I nodded and we headed off to bed.

XXX

I groaned and stretched. The first few rays of sunlight we're just creeping through the tiny gap between the curtains, I looked at the clock 5:52am. I smiled and looked over to Bryan, who was still blissfully unaware of anything going on around him. I looked over to Kai…who wasn't there, his futon was still neatly rolled up, and he definitely hadn't been to sleep last night. I sat up suddenly, my vision went for a few moments from the sudden movement, but in no time I was stood up looking around. I stepped over the sleeping teens and made my way to the door, quietly sliding it open and shut behind myself, I crept along the hallway, my feet were cold on the wooden floor, but I wasn't too bothered. I crept into the living room, where I found Ray sitting up with a coffee in hand.

"He didn't come home last night" Ray spoke into his coffee mug, I nodded

"Yeah, I know" He looked at me, his eyes filled with concern. "He's probably just training up for the tournament; you know what he's like" I assured Ray who nodded

"Yeah that must be it" I smiled as Ray took another sip of his coffee

"There's more in the kitchen" He smiled, meaning coffee. I slowly poured myself a coffee and went back to join Ray.

As I sat down, Ray spoke "I think there's something he's not telling us" I looked at him, mid-sip of coffee

"Really?" I lied easily.

"Yeah. Well he'll tell us eventually" I smiled that Ray wasn't going to go on and on about it.

After 20 or so minutes of talking about the upcoming tournament I turned to face Ray again "Fancy a little training before everyone wakes up?" he smiled and nodded.

XXX

At 9:00am we headed back into the Dojo, the rest of the teens were slowly making and eating their breakfast…all, except for Tyson, who was cramming all kinds of foods into his mouth. I cringed as he took a mouthful of cereal, followed by a forkful of bacon. Ray chuckled and sat down

"Where's the sourpuss?" Tyson asked through his mouthful of food

Ray gave him a disapproving look at the nickname but replied all the same "Not sure, he didn't come home last night" Tyson swallowed his mouthful with difficulty and spoke loudly

"Really?! Are you being serious? He actually stayed out all night? I thought it was raining!" Tyson looked at Max for a moment

"It was, but Kai's Kai" Ray chuckled. The room fell silent; the only sounds that could be heard were the cutlery 'clinking' on the plates and bowls. The relative silence was broken moments later by the sliding back door opening and closing. Kai walked into the kitchen moments later, he glanced around the room before spotting the coffee and walking over and pouring himself a mug. His hair was messy from the weather, he looked pale and tired and his eyes had dark rings under them. He drank his coffee quickly, with no milk and no sugar, just straight. And then he poured himself another mug. He sat at the table and everyone continued as they were before.

"Morning Kai" Max smiled

Kai glanced over, "Hn" Max's smile faltered for a few moments but was soon back.

"What time do we leave?" Mariah looked at Kai who didn't say anything for a few moments

"11:30" he looked down at his coffee mug and back up again "Which mean's we'll be leaving here at 10:30" I looked at the clock, it was only 9:42, so we still had a little time left

Kai stood up and left the room, I sighed and took a sip of my coffee.

XXX

Soon we were sat in the airport…waiting for our call to our flight, we were running late, mainly Tyson's fault, however we did make it to the airport with a little time to spare.

Kai was sat a few seats away from us, but no-one seemed too bothered. Eventually our call came over the loud-speaker

"Flight to Moscow Russia is departing from gate three shortly, I repeat flight to Moscow is departing from gate three shortly. Would all passengers please board the airship. Thank you" Kai was the first up, he picked up his bag and wandered off to the right gate, we all followed behind and found Kai handing over ALL our tickets to the air hostess. She nodded and allowed us all through.

The plane was small, small to a point that there were only a few other passengers on board. Kai was sat at the window seat, I was next to him, and Bryan and Spencer finished our row.

As the flight prepared to take off, and began to speed up along the runway, I noticed Kai tense up and grip the arms of his seat. I never knew he was scared of flying!

**Kai's POV**

I gripped the handle of my chair as we began to move, realizing there really was no going back now. I would have to stay with Susumu, whether or not I liked it…I sighed as the plane began to leave the ground.

XXX

**Tala's POV**

As we were nearing the end of the first hour of the flight, I glanced over at Kai, who was staring out the window, not that there was much to see, clouds, sky, the occasional glimpse of the sea. I left him alone when I heard Tyson complaining to a hostess.

"I'm hungry!" He stated loudly, so the few occupants of the plane who weren't associated with us looked over

"I'm afraid the food won't be served for another half hour sir" She replied commandingly, Tyson grumbled and was a bout to retaliate when the ice cold voice of the captain and my friend floated over my shoulder

"Enough Tyson" he began, not angrily, but the authority in his voice kept Tyson from speaking "You can wait just like every other passenger on this plane" Tyson glanced at Kai before scowling and replying, just as calmly:

"Just because you don't feel the need to eat, the rest of us aren't robots" Kai kept his icy mask in place, but everyone could tell Tyson had struck a nerve

"Will you just shut up and wait like everyone else?!" He snapped angrily. Proving the point that what Tyson said affected him.

"And if I don't?" Tyson taunted, Kai gritted his teeth

"If you don't you'll be on the first flight back to Japan when we arrive" he snarled

"Like you can make THAT happen?" Tyson teased Kai

"Either that or you'll be on a stretcher heading for hospital, now SHUT UP!" Kai shouted. Tyson looked taken-aback by Kai's words, and he smirked, thinking Kai was just messing about, but Spencer, Bryan and I knew that Kai was being deadly serious. He really would end Tyson up in hospital if said teen carried on in the fashion he was.

Tyson just sat back down and began to whine to Ray and Max about starvation and food. Ray just laughed it off, while Max giggled at Tyson's pained expression. Thankfully, after just 10 minutes the hostesses began handing out the meals. I noticed Emily mouth a 'thank you' to one of the hostesses who nodded in return; she had obviously asked them to feed us early to shut Tyson up.

As I put Kai's tray of food in front of him, he looked back out the window. He gave the food a very quick glance but that was it. "You really should eat" I whispered, just so as not to catch Tyson's attention.

Kai looked at me for a moment before pushing his plate away from himself "I'm not hungry" he mumbled

"But you've hardly eaten in days Kai!" I hissed, He glared at me icily, the dark rings still present under his eyes and pulled open the little foil container of food before stabbing it with the plastic fork and putting a tiny piece of meat in his mouth. I sighed knowing he was, in his own individual way, teasing me and decided to eat my food instead of letting it get cold. Surprisingly, Kai did eat a decent portion of his meal. Even though it was like chewing on cardboard. Tyson however was desperate for seconds, to a point that Ray gave the hostess some more money for another meal. Kai sighed angrily next to me and I just smiled at the happenings.

XXX

Another half hour into the journey, Kai was fast asleep next to me, having had no sleep last night, I decided it best to let him at least get some rest. Tyson looked over his chair and almost choked seeing Kai fast asleep, his head was gently leaning against the window, his arms wrapped loosely around himself. I gave Tyson a "Don't you even dare" look. He looked at me and nodded, I smiled, and suddenly Tyson began:

"KAI!" He shouted loudly. Said bluenette jumped in fright and sat up, his cold mask falling back into position moments after

"What?!" he hissed angrily

"Oh nothing" Tyson yawned "Man, I'm tired" he grinned as Kai glared at him. "What?" Tyson asked innocently. Kai glared again and stood up angrily, Tyson did the same, facing his captain.

"Just what is your problem Kai?!" Tyson asked agitatedly "You've been weird all week and it's about time you told us all why!" Kai looked like a deer caught in the headlights just for a split second; he pulled his mask back into place and replied

"It's none of your business Tyson" He snarled, Tyson look darkly at his captain

"I think you'll find it is!" he snapped back

Kai looked at him for a second, before turning and wandering to the back of the plane, presumably just to get away from the questions and prying eyes.

"You know don't you?" Tyson looked at me. My eyes widened for a moment "You do! If you didn't you'd have asked with me!" I looked at Tyson emotionlessly for a second before replying calmly

"You're right, I do know. But it isn't any of your business; Kai's trusted me not to tell anyone, so I'll keep it to myself." Tyson scowled and sat back in his seat and Kai headed back towards his seat. He flopped down next to me and said nothing…I decided to leave him alone, so pulled out my music player, found a magazine and began to read with my earphones keeping me blissfully unaware of the surrounding conversations.

I became so engrossed in my magazine, that it took Bryan giving me a nudge to realize that we had to put our seatbelts on for landing.

I smiled and pulled the small contraption around myself, before pulling out my headphones and folding my magazine and shoving them both into my bag. As the plane began to descend, Kai again gripped the chair; I guess it was in fear of what awaited him. I smiled and put my hand comfortingly over his, he smiled genuinely in reply and I moved my hand back to the arm of my chair.

XXX

The plane finally stopped and we all began to make our way into the Russian airport, Kai smiled as we waked in and heard someone speaking in rapid Russian over the loudspeaker. Kai's smile remained as he looked around at all the Russian adverts; the writing on the signs, there was a Russian song playing quietly in the background. And as we walked to collect our bags, we passed a small stall selling Russian food. Even I had to admit it was nice to be back home again, after so long.

Eventually our bags arrived and we all picked up our own suitcases, and headed for the exit of the airport. As we left, I remember just how cold it was out here. Kai walked off suddenly, seeing 3 taxi drivers, one holding a sign with the name "Hiwatari" printed on it. We all piled into 3 large Taxi's and arrived within minutes at a large hotel. Kai paid the drivers and we went inside, to get out of the cold weather.

As we walked in, sitting in the lobby was Mr. Dickenson, Judy, Bruce, and the stranger…Kai's father. Kai glanced awkwardly at me before walking over to the four adults.

"Ah, there you are!" Mr. Dickenson jumped up, and walked over with a huge grin plastered on his face "Now here are all your keys" Mr. Dickenson handed, Lee, Michael, Me, Robert and Ray the keys.

"Why doesn't Kai get the key?" Ray asked with a puzzled expression

Mr. Dickenson gave Kai an ashamed look "You didn't tell them? Did you?" Kai looked on expressionlessly.

"Fine, then I'll explain" Mr. Dickenson began, Kai remained motionless. "This is Susumu" he began

"Hi!" Max smiled, Susumu smiled in reply

"Susumu, is Kai's father, and Kai will be staying under his care from now on" Gasps filled the large lobby

"And you didn't think to tell us?!" Tyson shouted, throwing his hands in the air for effect.

"He will still be taking part in the tournament; however he won't be attending training with you." Mr. Dickenson continued "You will see him occasionally during the week, and Ray, you are in charge of training. We expect no less than what Kai would have you doing"

Ray nodded in reply and Kai spoke up "I expect to see an improvement"

"Why didn't you tell us dude?" Tyson interrupted with a sad quiet voice

"It wasn't your concern." Was Kai's emotionless reply; however it didn't contain the harsh tone as it usually would

"The tournament has been moved as well" Mr. Dickenson continued "It will be held in 4 weeks tomorrow. The reason you are here so early, is that the flights are fully booked, making it near impossible to get you all here on time otherwise"

Finally, Susumu spoke to Kai "Well, son, shall we head home?" Kai glanced at him angrily before speaking coldly

"I may be your biological son, but that doesn't mean you have the privilege of calling me that" He snarled, Susumu looked taken aback

"That's the tone your mother used often" He smiled, only it just made Kai angrier

"What did I say about bringing her into this?!" He growled icily, Susumu just smiled sadly at his son's stubbornness before leading Kai outside to a large black car. The chauffeur opened the door for the pair who climbed in without even a goodbye and soon the car drove away. Leaving us all stood in the lobby gazing at nothing out the window.

Everyone headed to their rooms, The Bladebreakers remained silent, trying to get their heads around what had just happened.

**Tyson's POV**

Ray closed the door to the room and I turned to face the rest of the team "I can't believe he would keep something like that from us!" I said waving my arms in the air angrily.

"Tyson, just calm down. I'm sure he had his reasons" Max replied, Ray nodded

"Kai is Kai after all" Ray smiled softly and I sighed

"But that's still no excuse" Kenny supplied, his glasses flashing in the light

"Well, ask him next time you see him!" Ray stated, with a slightly angered tone "You're going to achieve nothing sitting here discussing it"

I nodded and smiled "Well, since Kai isn't here, and we do have the entire afternoon to kill…" Ray looked over me

"We'll be training" Ray supplied, Max's face fell

"But RAAAYYYYY!" Max whined "We've only just got here, and I'm kinda jet lagged" Max lied, fairly well, but Ray saw straight through it.

"No you're not" he laughed as Max sighed

"Well I TRIED!" the blonde laughed

"Fine, we'll train this evening then. You can relax this afternoon" Max jumped and punched the air, we all knew Ray wouldn't make us train this evening, so we had the rest of the day off. I grinned and picked up the TV remote.

As I flicked the channel on to what would usually be a quiz show, I was shocked to find a news channel with a woman speaking rapid Russian "WHAT?! They don't have English TV?!" I spluttered. Ray burst into loud laughter and Max giggled

"Well, we ARE in Russia" Kenny chuckled "I'll have a look in the manual" Said genius stood up and began to flick through the book, before fiddling around a bit with the remote and, thankfully the usual quiz show came onto the screen, in English. I smiled sheepishly; the thought of reading the manual hadn't even crossed my mind.

**Kai's POV**

I sat silently staring out the window, vaguely aware that Susumu was talking to either myself or the chauffeur. I continued to look out the window as the car eventually came to a halt outside a huge mansion. Definitely an inherited 'Hiwatari' mansion, probably from my Grandfather. Although, saying that I didn't know if Susumu WAS Voltaire's son or if my mother was Voltaire's daughter. I'd never thought to ask.

The mansion was made of a light sandy colored stone, with large ceiling height windows, there was ivy creeping up the front of the house, but that only made it look nicer. There were stone steps leading to the front door, the steps were the same sandy colour as the walls, and at the top, either side of the main doors, we're two white stone pillars which were almost holding the roof of the large porch up.

I stepped out the car before Susumu and we headed up the large stone steps to the main doors, which were at least twice as tall as me, and made of dark wood with black handles. A butler pulled the door open for us as we reached the top step, Susumu nodded in thanks and we headed inside. The inside was just as magnificent as the mansion looked from the outside. The entire floor was black stone, and the large entrance hall was lined with white pillars, which we're the same width as the stairs, which were at the far end of the hall. The grand staircase had one small flight and a half landing and then split off in opposite directions, each stone step was covered by a dark, rich red carpet. A black railing lined the edges of the staircase. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling, dripping with red and clear crystals. Even though the lights were not on, I could tell how magnificent it would look, and also how expensive it was.

I looked around the grand hallway we were stood in. it was about the size of a decent ball room, between each pillar, was a light colored wooden door, presumably leading to the living room and the dining room etc.

Susumu walked ahead and began to walk up the stairs, I followed closely, he took the stairs to the left and we entered the hallway at the top. This hallway was a lot narrower than the entrance hall, but it was no less impressive. No pillars lined this hallway, presumably because it was on the second floor, but the floor was still black stone, the dark red carpet had stopped on the top step of the stairs. The walls were a perfect white, as was the ceiling, grand chandeliers also hung in this hallway, although they were not nearly as large as the ones before. As we walked passed multiple rooms, Susumu spoke:

"These are guest rooms" he said with a smile as we walked passed more rooms

"You're room is at the end here" he indicated as we began to reach the end of the hallway, which held another flight of stairs. He pushed open the door

"This is your room Kai" he let me step inside and have a quick look around:

The walls were a deep blue, almost the black colour, the same as the back of my hair. The floor was still black stone and was not covered with any carpets or rugs. The bed was a king size double, with dark red sheets placed on top, perfectly, without a single crease. The curtains on the large ceiling high window matched the bed sheets. Small light wooden colour bed-side-tables were either side of the bed and each held a small silver light with a deep red lampshade. There was a large bathroom to the side of the room, and on the wall next to it was the large window, with a large window seat, lined with Red cushions.

The butler put my bags down for me and left, as Susumu spoke again "I'll show you some more of the house" he smiled and left the room, with me following. We walked up the next flight of stair, higher into the mansion; these steps were left without carpet. As we reached the next floor, I realized how alike it looked to the floor below. We passed many more rooms, a few of which were guest rooms, the others held large sofas and TV's, games consoles and other various activities. Susumu only walked half way along the corridor and he stopped

"These rooms are just for storage" He explained, indicating to the last few rooms on either side of the corridor "And that leads to the attic, though, there's no reason for you to be there" I nodded

"We've got training facilities for you as well" He began walking back, down the stone stairs and down the next flight until we were back in the entrance hall. He pushed open a small light wood colored door and revealed a set of stairs leading down into the cellar. Susumu walked down first, I followed closely behind. This area of the mansion was surprisingly just as well furbished as the other areas. The walls were white, as were the stairs, there was only artificial light in the cellar, so this helped keep the cellar looking bright. The steps were white stone as well, and the ceiling matched. As the stairs finally stopped, we came into a large white room, with a red bey-dish in the center. Various training machines lined the walls, from weights to treadmills. I gazed around the room in awe. Not even the BBA had supplied us with such an extensive collection of training equipment.

Susumu smiled "I'm sure you'll want some time to rest" We headed back out of the basement and Susumu stopped in the grand hallway "You're more than welcome to have a look around and get used to this house, after all it is your new home. However, the right wing of this house" he indicated to where the stairway split into two and the stairs went to the right "Is strictly off limits. You are not to go into that side of the house…understand?" He gave me a stern look, I could only nod in reply, I had no idea what to say. He swiftly left and I was suddenly alone in the large entrance hall.

I decided to start by just looking inside all the rooms which led off the hallway. There was a living room, and dining room, and the kitchen, but there was also a large corridor…I allowed my curiosity to get the better of me, and I walked down the long corridor. The black stone floor continued, as did the white walls and small chandeliers hung every 15 meters or so. As I made it to the end of the corridor, I pushed open the door and found a library. But it was huge, bigger than ANY library I had ever seen! Books lined each and every wall, and there were stand alone bookshelves everywhere. The room was like a maze to navigate. After I had looked through some of the books, I came across a shelf of older looking books, about beyblading. I smiled and picked one of them up, it had some fairly useful tips in it and I made a note to myself that I should look at this book again I picked up another book and it had some useful tips on building better beyblades I decided to take this book with me, it looked like it would come in handy. I wandered out of the library and back along the corridor. I decided to look in the rooms above the floor my room was on, so I headed upstairs.

I wandered along the corridor and pushed open various doors along the way, as I pushed open another door I realized I had come to the storage rooms, which were piled with cardboard boxes. I decide to leave these rooms be, and headed up into the attic. The attic was entirely made of wood, it was also piled with boxes, only these were open. And full of beyblade parts. I glanced down at the book under my arm and then decided I had nothing to lose and decided to have a look for some parts for my blade. I used the book from the library to pick out some good pieces and took them all down to my room along with some tools I found in another box.

Using the book I remodeled my blade, making the defense a lot stronger, and Dranzer was a lot faster and stronger. In theory. Now all I had to do was go and see if it would all work. As I walked down to the basement, I took note of how jumbled my blade looked. I couldn't find any pieces of the same colour, so at present, she had a green attack ring, and a purple base and a blue bit chip, bits of metal made up the other parts of the blade, along with Dranzer's original features.

As I stepped up to the red bey-dish in the center of the room, I readied Dranzer. I heard a whirring and a blade shot from the wall and into the dish, I smiled and launched Dranzer, who shot round the dish at an alarmingly fast rate, she smashed into the other blade, completely destroying it in one blow. Another two blades shot from the wall and began to attack my blade, Dranzer, however remained perfectly still, the attacks didn't even nudge her, it was slightly unnerving as I could feel control slipping from my grip, I definitely needed to practice with her new blade before the championships. I smiled as I called her back to my hand and left the training room. Deciding she looked too jumbled for my liking, I headed back up into the attack, and after a good rummage I found some bey-paint. I wandered back own into my room, the book lay open on my bed. As I sat down I noticed there was a little more tweaking that I could do, just for a tiny bit more improvement. I tightened little parts of my blade here and there and then began to paint her royal blue again. With red and orange around the attack ring. I smiled as I sat her to dry on the window seat. I lay back on my bed and sighed as I felt myself sink into the fluffy duvet. I glanced at the clock and realized that I had spent almost the entire afternoon and evening working on my blade; it was 8:17pm. After the time changes from the flight, I decided to get some sleep early, and so moved Dranzer to my bed-side-table and found my pajamas in my suitcase. Before climbing under the heavy duvet and drifting off into a peaceful sleep. Not having to worry about waking up before Tyson and Max, and even Ray, or going to sleep later than them. For once I felt totally relaxed.

XXX

I woke up later than usual in the morning, at 8:22am. I smiled and rolled over in the huge bed to look out the equally impressive window. The sun was just shining through the clouds, yet snow was still falling. I smiled and got out of bed, got changed and wandered out of my room.

As I walked down the long corridor I could hear Mr. Dickenson's voice. As well as Susumu's

"They just want to see him, they have questions" Mr. Dickenson reasoned

"Yes, but Kai's fine here. Give him some space!" Susumu argued. I blinked, why would he not want me to leave?

I walked down the stairs and the argument stopped instantly. An awkward silence filled the large entrance hall

"Kai m'boy!" Mr. Dickenson smiled "You're friends want to see you" he smiled at me.

I nodded as Susumu scowled "I think you should get properly settled here first"

"I can settle later." I replied icily as Mr. Dickenson began to walk to the BBA car waiting to take us both back to the hotel.

I climbed in the back of the car and I knew Mr. Dickenson was going to bombard me with questions.

"So, how do you like living with your father?" He asked, I shrugged

"Hn." Was all I replied with. Mr. Dickenson scratched the back of his head

"Well, how are you finding the house then?" he continued to look at me

"Fine" I replied with a sigh as I gazed out the window at the trees and snow as we sped to the hotel

"It's a lot bigger than you're used to. I would imagine it's difficult to remember where every room is?" Mr. Dickenson smiled. I looked at him expressionlessly

"Not really" I replied

"Why must you be so stubborn?!" Mr. Dickenson said exasperatedly.

I glanced at him, but decided not to stoop so low as to argue with an old man. I continued to look out the window and I heard Mr. Dickenson sigh in utter defeat.

We drove around the final bend and the car came to a halt, I climbed out and entered the large lobby of the hotel. Mr. Dickenson walked in behind me, but I paid him no attention.

Heading for the stairs I walked up quickly, leaving Mr. D far behind.

As I arrived on the floor of the other teams I smiled hearing Tyson whining loudly

I stepped up to the door and knocked loudly, the door swung open and I was greeted by Tyson yelling

"FINALLY!" assumingly he thought I was room service

"Kai!" he smiled and stepped aside so I could walk in.

He closed the door after me and I looked around the room, it was a far cry from the mansion I was currently living in. The floor was covered by a deep blue carpet, there were small wooden beds lining the walls, with matching bedside tables. A large light hung in the center of the ceiling, and the window was almost as big as the one in my room. They had a bathroom joined to the bedroom, and in the corner a small kitchen area with a mini fridge, filled with goodness knows what. Quite why there was a small kitchen I didn't know, after all, every meal was served down in the large dining hall, used by all guests of the hotel.

Ray smiled at me from across the room, which, although was not expensively furnished, was large. "You alright?" Ray asked, I nodded slightly and he smiled

"Dude!" Tyson interrupted "Why didn't you tell us you were staying with your dad?!"

I looked at him "You never asked"

Tyson sighed angrily "Dude, you should have just told us" I smirked at Tyson's calling me 'dude'

"Come on guys, it doesn't matter now!" Max smiled "Besides, Kai, what's you're dad's place like?" I smirked at their questions

"Huge" Mr. Dickenson replied from the doorway

"Mr. Dickenson!" Tyson smiled, Stanley smiled and nodded in greeting

"I'm going to go and check on the others. I'll see you boys soon" Ray glanced at Tyson confusedly, wondering why Mr. D left so suddenly

"I guess he was only dropping round to check on everyone?" Max smiled

"Training" I stated without any chance for more questions to be fired at me. I didn't need to be dealing with their worrying and questions.

Ray laughed "Ever practical aye Kai?" I just gave him a 'don't mess with me' look. We headed outside and began to train….about 10 minutes later Tyson's whining began

"But it's SNOWING Kai!" He yelled loudly from across the large lawn area to the back of the hotel "And Dragoon keeps getting snow and ice stuck in his blade!" I sighed as Tyson's whining continued

"And I don't have any gloves on, I can't feel my fingers!" I growled quietly, Ray however heard

"Come on Tyson, it won't be for much longer!" Ray smiled optimistically

"Stop lying, we all know Kai's gunna keep us out here until like tea-time!" Tyson stamped his foot childishly and I sighed angrily.

"Fine, do what you want" I snapped angrily, Tyson 'whooped' and ran inside, Max, Ray and Kenny however hung back

"We should keep on training. We do want to win after all" Max smiled as he placed Draciel back into the launcher. I kept my expression blank; however, I was proud at their determination…Tyson on the other hand…..

"Tyson better not let us down!" Ray looked over to the door to the hotel, where Tyson had previously run inside

"If he loses his matches because he doesn't train…" Max trailed off, just imagining how I would make him suffer.

"Right. Ray you take on Max. Kenny, record the battle and get their stats. We need a direction for this training" Kenny nodded and settled on the rug which lay over the snowy grass opening up Dizzi, I leant against the nearby wall and watched as the battle began.

I only watched the two of them for a few moments, before I began to watch Dizzi's screen, with each clash of Ray's and Max's blades, information popped up. Ray needed to work on defense, while Max needed to work on attack….it fitted together perfectly.

The match came to an end and I walked over.

"Ray, your defense needs work, and Max you need to get your attacks stronger. You may as well battle against each other working on those fields, while I go find Tyson" Ray and Max nodded

"Chief" I used Kenny's nick-name for the first in a long time, The genius looked up at me, glasses flashing in the light "I've done some work on my blade" Kenny's mouth hung open slightly, and Max and Ray came over

"How? I Thought chief had all the bey-parts?" Max asked perplexed

"I found some in the mansion." I supplied them with a short explanation.

"Sure thing Kai" Kenny smiled and pulled up my stats and a picture of my blade the last time they saw it…I pulled out Dranzer in her new blade, and realized her appearance had hardly changed, if at all.

"It looks the same to me?" Max tilted his head in confusion.

"Wow Kai!" Kenny exclaimed as he looked over my blade "How did you manage this?" He looked at me in awe

"Found some books in the library" I replied as I crossed my arms

"Uh…Kai?" Kenny looked at me

"Hn?" I replied

"Could you bring me one of those books? I could upgrade everyone's blades before the tournament that way. After all we do have a little while before it starts, and that way they could practice before." I looked at him for a moment before nodding

"Do you still want us to train with our old blades? Or did you want to take them now?" Kenny looked at me for a second

"Could you go back and get some books Kai?" I nodded and left to find Mr. Dickenson.

Speak of the man; just as I walked into the hotel, I spotted him talking to Tyson

"Kai!" he smiled

"Can you take me back?" he looked at me for a moment before nodding "I need to pick something up" I gave as my explanation.

XXX

I jumped out the car and jogged up to the mansion, before shooting down the hallway and grabbing some Beyblade books from the huge library, leaving the old book I had previously used. Before I gave him that I wanted to read over some other things first. I grabbed a couple of books and jogged back down the corridor and straight back out to the car.

We were back at the hotel moments later. I handed Kenny the books, he smiled and said "thanks" before settling down with the books, Ray and Max sat with him, so I decided to stand nearby.

Just at that moment, Tyson wandered out of the hotel, holding a dohnut and another slice of some type of sugary, unhealthy, fattening cake. I sighed as he plonked down by the group and stuffed over half the cake into his mouth. I cringed as he chewed it, dropping crumbs all over the books, Dizzi and the rug.

"Do you mind?!" Dizzi's mechanical voice sounded loudly

"Oh, sorry Diz" Tyson grinned sheepishly and swept the crumbs off the books, Dizzi and himself.

"Hey, what you doing chief?" Tyson asked

"Upgrading Max and Ray's blades" Kenny replied

"What about mine and Kai's?!" Tyson crossed his arms, cakes still in hand.

"If you gave me yours I would happily upgrade it. And Kai's already upgraded his himself" Tyson nodded and shoved the other half of his cake into his mouth

"How much better is your blade then Kai?" Max looked at me…inwardly I cringed, I hadn't had another chance to practice, so the chances of me losing control were high…

"Hn" I turned my head. I heard Max chuckle and I decided that he had dropped the subject.

I walked over to the group, picked up my blade and decided to leave. I left the garden area of the large hotel and headed down into the town, where there was a nearby park I had seen previously

I began to train…it took a long time, I found Dranzer spinning off in all directions when I tried to command a move. And just as I thought I had the hang of it, she shot of and ploughed into a tree…I sighed in anger and yanked the dark blue blade from the hole in the splintered wood of the tree.

'_How the others will handle these new blades, I have no idea' _I sighed angrily and re launched Dranzer, and seeming to notice my anger, she began to obey me…I blinked in confusion…..all I had to do was lose my temper? I had spent the entire day trying to keep my cool and all I had to do was the opposite?! I growled in anger and in response Dranzer shot around the park, exactly as I wished her to…_'maybe just emotions make everything work'_ I contemplated

I called her back and wandered back into the hotel garden, the bladebreakers were still sat working on their blades. Tyson grinned and held his upgraded Dragoon in his hand. I just rolled my eyes and leant against the nearby wall. Max smiled as Kenny handed his blade back.

"We're all done Kai" Kenny smiled and sighed tiredly

"Let's try these out then!" Tyson jumped up and without another thought yanked the rip-cord from the launcher. Sending his silver blade flying off and smashing straight into the wall by my head. I growled and took Tyson's smoking blade from the wall

"Concentrate" I shoved the blade back into his hand, deciding not to give him the answer he needed, as a team they should work it out. It'll only serve to make them stronger.

Tyson launched Dragoon again, trying desperately to concentrate; you could see it by the look on his face. And, in all fairness, he did manage to get his blade to launch in the right direction, but it soon shot off again, hitting a tree and stopping. "It's SO fast!" Tyson picked his blade up again "I can't control him!" I just sighed and closed my eyes.

I stayed against the wall for the best part of the afternoon, and slowly, the group began to gain, SOME control of their new increased power. Ray, the most, although he was the better blader before, he seemed to understand the most.

All too soon, Mr. Dickenson arrived and walked over

"Kai, you should go back now" he smiled

"Aw, but Mr. Dickenson, can't he stay for dinner?" Max whined. Mr. Dickenson chuckled and replied:

"Well, if Kai doesn't mind" Mr. Dickenson looked at me, I shook my head

"Whatever" I replied, a smile tugging at the corner of my lips

XXX

As we sat around for dinner, I heard Tyson, who was sitting a seat away from me, heading towards the subject of our new blades; very suddenly I sent him a sharp kick, effectively telling him to shut up

He clenched his shin for a minute or two before changing the subject. I shoved the untouched food around my plate for a good few minutes. Ray looked at me "You not hungry?" I shook my head and placed my knife and fork down, pushing the plate away from myself.

"Kai, m'boy, we should take you back now, Susumu will be wondering where you are" Mr. Dickenson smiled, I scowled however I stood up and headed for the door

"See you tomorrow buddy!" Tyson and Max smiled, I nodded, although, I knew the chances were slim of me seeing them, I wanted to train alone.

XXX

I wandered back into the mansion, and watched briefly as the black BBA car drove away

"A maid said she saw you take a few books from the library?" He asked calmly

I nodded in reply

"The books are NOT to leave this house, do I make myself clear?" I nodded, slightly bewildered as to why it bothered him so much.

I wandered up the stairs and along the corridor to my room. The first thing I did is lean against my door, before sitting on the large window seat and admire the garden and the hundreds of stars that now twinkled in the cloudless sky. I sighed and decided to get some rest, as Susumu seemed to be in a particularly unfavorable mood.

XXX

I woke up early, as usual. I had had my lie in the previous day.

'_Train'_ was the first thought that entered my sleep-fogged mind. After quickly getting changed I made my way to the large garden and began to train alone; I could make a lot more progress when not hindered by other bladers.

I continued to train for hours. Until Susumu came out to see me. Instantly I stopped, not really trusting him.

"Morning Kai" He smiled, I nodded in reply. Susumu scratched the back of his head at the awkwardness "Sleep well?" he asked politely

"Yes" I replied bluntly. He again scratched his head and looked away from me

"Did you want any help training?" I looked at him for a long moment before replying

"No" I readied Dranzer in her launcher. He watched me for a few moments before deciding to leave me in peace.

'_I don't know what it is about him…but I don't like it' _I thought to myself as I launched Dranzer.

XXX

After spending nearly the entire day training I wandered back into the mansion. A maid greeted me as I walked in, which was slightly strange, but I left it at that I wandered up to the rooms with huge televisions and sofas with beanbags and other things. I flicked through the channels for a while, and eventually turned the TV off. I sighed and glanced out the window

**Flashback**

"Look at the stars" a young voice whispered

"Yeah" my equally young voice replied

"I can't remember when I last saw them" I looked over and into ice blue eyes

"Too long ago" I replied sadly, my red-headed best friend nodded and turned to look out the window again

"We should sleep soon, but I don't wanna stop seeing them" I smiled sadly

"Come on Tala, let's get some sleep, training tomorrow" I climbed into my bed and Tala climbed into his, the other side of the dark cell

**End Flashback**

I gasped as I came back to reality, I held my head for moment _'That's the first flashback you've had in almost a year' _I thought to myself

I glanced back at the window, and decided to head for bed early. I used to get flashbacks, but they were never anything important, that I NEEDED to remember. I remembered so many things about Tala, Bryan and Spencer. But never anything of the Abbey's training or facilities. I only had what I saw back at the Russian tournament. I growled in frustration and pulled my covers over myself. And slowly drifted into a light sleep, hoping I would not be plagued by nightmares…

XXX

**That's another really long chapter! 21 pages. Excuse any mistakes, it was way too much effort to read all the pages and check it all over. Please review or no next chapter.**

**Thanks for reading**

**xflightofthephoenix**


	3. Training

**Kai's POV**

I was thrown into our cell ungracefully. The guard slammed the door shut and began to leave. I lay on the floor where I had landed for a few moments, listening to the echoing of his shoes, until it died down and I dared to move again. I pulled myself up slowly, stretching my newly acquired injuries painfully.

"Kai?" I heard a quiet whisper "Is that you?" A Dark shape crept across the pitch black cell. As the young figure stood in the moonlight, which filtered through the small barred window, i became aware it was Tala

"Yeah" I replied hoarsely, instantly, Tala was kneeling beside me on the concrete floor of our shared cell.

"What did they do?" I heard another young voice, although, not as young as my own and Tala's

"Be quiet Spencer" another voice hissed angrily.

"Shh!" Tala commanded. Both other occupants of the room were silenced and tip-toed over.

I coughed weakly and in the small amount of moonlight could see blood on my hand "Shit" Tala breathed as he wiped it off with the bed sheet.

"Do they expect you to train tomorrow?" Bryan slammed his fist down on the concrete floor in anger. He was only 7 and had a terrible temper. Tala glanced over at him, with a worried expression as I coughed again.

"Try to get some rest" Tala moved my bed sheets aside to allow me to crawl under. I did so painfully, and I heard Tala groan quietly at the mess I was left in. We weren't privileged enough to own mirrors in our cells, however I was very aware my oversized t-shirt was ripped beyond repair; my trousers were covered in blood and my hair was clogged with the red substance. I felt the strength leave my arms and I crashed into the thin mattress painfully, Tala gently rolled me over and pulled the covers over me

"We'll get you cleaned up before training tomorrow morning" Tala smiled softly and the three other occupants of our cell made their way back to their own beds, not that it was very far, the cell was so small.

XXX

I shot up in my bed. Breathing heavily, I looked around the room for a minute, slightly disorientated wondering where I was.

'_you're at your fathers mansion'_ I reassured myself _' not back at the Abbey' _I tried to calm my breathing down, after a few long moments the room fell silent again, the only noise breaking it was my quiet breaths. I ran my hand through my hair slowly.

'_Why now?' _I thought miserably _'Why do you have to remember things now, right before the tournament?'_ I cursed under my breath

I gave the small alarm clock a quick glance, 2:48am...great. I fell back into the soft mattress and pillows of my bed. I closed my eyes slowly, but after a flashback like that; sleeping was the last thing on my mind. I sat up again and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I turned the small bedside lamp on and glanced briefly around my room, before pulling on my clothes and leaving my room.

I wandered down the long corridor and down the stairs until I found myself in the large entrance hall. It was still pitch black, inside and outside the mansion, but I daren't turn on any lights, in case it woke Susumu. I slowly walked into the huge kitchen of the mansion and searched around for the coffee machine. Thankfully, it was an instant coffee machine, so within a minute I was staring into a steaming mug of black coffee, which I drank surprisingly fast. I poured myself another mug and drank it equally as quickly. Then decided to leave the kitchen and train out in the gardens. The chances are that Mr. Dickenson would turn up and ask me to go back to the hotel and see my team, so I may as well train as much as I can before.

XXX

I trained for what felt like hours, in reality I wasn't sure how long had passed, the sky was still a dark grey-black colour. I continued to train for as much as I could handle. Dranzer shot around the garden, the quickest I had ever seen her. After I called her back, I decided to get myself another coffee to keep myself awake.

I wandered into the entrance hall of the mansion, and was greeted by Susumu walking down the stairs.

"Oh, Kai" he blinked and paused for a moment "You're up early" he said somewhat awkwardly. I nodded in response, wondering WHY my waking up early should be awkward "Did you sleep well?" he asked, changing the subject slightly

"Yes" I lied easily. Keeping my flashbacks from him would be for the best, I didn't need him to begin prying into my life.

"Why are you up so early?" I asked him suspiciously

"Working" he smiled, again awkwardly. "I'm just going to relax in the living room, feel free to join me if you wish" I watched him closely as he began to walk towards the door to the living room

"No. I'm fine. I've got training to do" I replied bluntly

He nodded and stepped into the large room, closing the door after himself and leaving me, once again, alone in the entrance hall.

I quickly left for the kitchen. I didn't realise I would be this tired, otherwise I would have forced myself back to sleep.

I took a good look around the kitchen as I waited for the machine to pour my coffee. A Large silver fridge stood in the corner of the huge room; the counters were all a silver metal as well. The floor was covered in black tiles and the walls with white tiles. There was a large cooker and glass hob just a few meters from the fridge and along from that there was the coffee machine, and microwave, a food blender and some other various kitchen appliances. Lights lined the wall above the counters, shining a white light around the room.

That all covered the length of one wall, along another wall was a large modern kitchen table with matching chairs. All in the same matching silver polished metal. There was a large walk in fridge-freezer on the other wall, and the wall behind me was bare, aside from the door to leave.

I grabbed my coffee and sat at the large table, wondering briefly why the kitchen was so big, it was unnecessary. I took another sip of my drink as I looked around for the last time. I picked up my mug and left the room.

I walked to the library and found the old book I had previously used to upgrade Dranzer. I flicked through the book for a good ten minutes. But decided to leave Dranzer's blade as it was. After I had finished my coffee, I left the mansion for the gardens to train again.

As I stepped outside I glanced up, it had lightened up a great deal, and the sun had begun to shine. I smiled, it must be about 7am. This gave me a few more hours to train before Mr. Dickenson would show up again, if at all

XXX

As I had expected, Mr. Dickenson turned up later on that morning, although it can't have been that late.

"Kai, You're up nice and early" Mr. Dickenson smiled as he walked over

'_You have no idea' _I thought bitterly "Hn" I spoke coldly

"You're team need your guidance for their training" He stated simply

"Hn?" I asked

"They spent the entire of yesterday training, but can't seem to control their new blades." I nodded and started for the car

"Did you not want to tell Susumu you're leaving?" Mr. Dickenson looked at me, and I shook my head as a 'no' in reply.

XXX

As I arrived at the hotel, I could see Ray already pushing Max and Tyson to their limit and I smiled, I had a lot of respect for Ray who really would keep to his word and do as I asked him.

Before the bladebreakers saw me, I decided to find Tala.

I found him right over the other side of the large garden the hotel owned. He was with Bryan and Spencer training.

"Kai" He gave me a rare and genuine smile "I was beginning to wonder if you'd forgotten us!" I chuckled as he picked up Wolborg

"Hey pipsqueak" Bryan leant heavily on me. I had inherited that nickname after Ian had found his old family and left the demolition boys. This made me, the youngest and smallest member of the friendship group. I smirked and shoved him off, before I suddenly remember the reason for me looking for them. Apparently my serious expression had alerted Tala to the fact that I had something important to say.

"What's up?" he asked, almost nervously, worried what I was about to say. I contemplated telling him that Susumu was acting suspiciously, but decided against it and moved on to the more pressing issue.

"I had a flashback last night" I whispered. Just loud enough for the three of them to hear

"What was it this time?" Tala asked, he knew that most of my flashbacks were fairly pointless happenings.

"Just the stars" I replied. Tala smiled remembering that himself

"Honestly Kai" Bryan began "I don't know how you can cope with remembering nothing about your past. And when you do remember something, it turns out to be totally pointless" he smiled, but soon stopped realising I had some more to say

"I had a dream as well" I stated quietly, dismissing what Bryan had said to something short of concern.

"About what?" Tala asked, stepping forward in anticipation.

"It was after a punishment" I began "I don't remember what actually happened though" I sighed in frustration

**Tala's POV**

I watched as Kai sighed in anger "What happened after?" I asked him

"You three were there" he began "And you asked if I was expected to train the next day" I glanced over at Bryan remembering the incident all too well, Kai was left in a total mess after that punishment. Strangely though, I never found out the reason for it, or even what happened. Kai tried not to speak about it, until now that is.

"I wish I could remember!" he almost cried out angrily

"Kai." I said softly "We would tell you, really, but you never told us what happened. You kept it totally to yourself" I said, almost as an explanation to him.

Kai slumped to the floor and smashed his fist into the snowy grass in anger

Even though his flashbacks never gave him much information about his past, we all understood that anything he remembered, to him, was a big thing. I crouched down next to him "Kai. I've told you this countless times, count yourself lucky that you can't remember" he looked at me for a second before replying angrily

"You have NO idea what it's like not being able to remember your entire past!" he snapped

"I know" I pulled him off the ground. The group fell into an awkward silence

"You should go back to your team" Bryan stated, Kai nodded and began to leave, however he stopped in his tracks and turned back to face us

"Sorry" he mumbled, just loud enough for us to hear

"Its fine" I smiled

He nodded and continued to leave. As he left our view Bryan turned to me "I can't help but feel sorry for him" I nodded in agreement and left it at that.

**Kai's POV**

I walked over to my team and stood next to Kenny. He smiled as he realised I was watching Ray train Tyson and Max

"He's been a good stand in captain" Kenny smiled at me

"I know" I replied somewhat coldly

"How have you been Kai?" he looked up at me

"Fine" I replied

Just at that moment, Tyson, Max and Ray walked over

"Morning Kai!" Max grinned, I sighed guessing he'd had sugar on his breakfast

"Alright buddy?" Tyson asked. I gave him a brief nod which he returned with a smile

"They're improving" Ray supplied as the group fell silent I nodded

"Mr. Dickenson said you were having problems" I said simply.

"Yeah, a few, but I think they're finally getting the hang of it" I nodded.

"Hey whaddaya say we go and check out Russia again?" Tyson asked

"Yeah!" Max agreed "I wonder if Moscow's changed at all?!" Ray smiled and looked at me, to ask if they would be allowed

"Do whatever you want" Max and Tyson high-fived at me reply and Ray smiled.

' _I wonder if the Abbey's still standing' _ I thought grimly _'I guess there's only one way to find out' _I thought.

XXX

An hour later, Tyson, Max and Ray had left to sight-see, and I found myself stood outside the gates to Balkov Abbey. I growled in anger at the fact that the authorities still hadn't had the cursed building destroyed at the end of the Russian tournament all that time ago.

Without realising it, I found myself pushing the large iron gates open, I stepped into the grounds of the Abbey and shuddered at the uneasy feeling I got from that building. However my curiosity and my wanting to know about my past drove me to walk up towards the building. The snow covering the grounds was completely untouched, I gathered no-one, and not even Voltaire or Boris had been here since the last Russian tournament. I cringed as my feet crunched in the snow, I glanced around the grounds...

**Flashback**

"Run!" Tala grabbed my hand and yanked me faster, The abbey's alarms ringing loudly in the background

"I can't run any faster!" I replied as we continued to shoot through the grounds, snow flicking up behind us. Bryan and Spencer were far ahead, Ian, far behind. Probably caught by a guard, but in this situation, we daren't stop. The punishment we would receive if we were caught would be unbearable at best.

**End Flashback**

I shook my head and took a deep breath of the crisp, cold air. Clearing my thoughts from that experience. There was no point dwelling on something I only knew the half of.

I continued to walk towards the large stone building and within what felt like seconds, I found myself stood just outside the main doors.

'_Don't go inside' _I mentally warned myself _'If you don't go inside you'll never remember anything important' _my own voice hissed. I took a step into the cold building. The only light was streaming in through the small window at the very highest point of the wall.

I glanced around the circular room, there was another door opposite me and I began to make my way across, every step sending a cloud of dust into the air. As I got nearer to the door, I began to change my mind, Tala would never forgive me, if I actually did go back into the only place we couldn't wait to escape when we were younger.

I pushed open the next wooden door and stopped...

**Flashback**

"Come On Tala!" I yanked my best friends' arm, in an attempt to get him to follow me

"And if we get caught?" He replied angrily, taking another step after me

"We won't!" I hissed in the darkness, although my voice echoed in the large circular room

"But there's bound to be guards waiting outside Kai!" he argued

"If you want to stay here then fine. But count me out. Bryan and Spencer have gone, so has Ian" I replied angrily and took another step, which again echoed in the large room

"Kai?" I turned around to look at Tala

"Hn?"

"We've gotta be fast" I smiled as Tala jogged up next to me, and we pushed the door to the exit open, before dashing off into the snow as the alarm began to ring.

**End Flashback**

I took another step...backwards. Unsure of how much more I wanted to know. I took another step, and another and slowly backed across the room...before turning on my heel and dashing out of the exit, just like I did all those years ago, only this time, no alarms rang, and Tala wasn't with me...

XXX

I skidded into the hotel garden, I hadn't stopped running the entire way, I stopped to catch my breath and just as I did so, Tala, Bryan and Spencer came around the corner.

"Kai?!" Tala dashed forward worriedly

I leant against the wall while I caught my breath, and Tala began to speak "you alright? What happened?"

"Nothing" I debated with myself whether or not to tell Tala where I had been just moments ago...

"Don't lie" Bryan stated, grabbing my arm and pulling me aside from all the other guests of the hotel and the other teams that could potentially hear what I would say

"I went back to the Abbey" I said quietly...I glanced up, Spencer and Bryan just stared with wide eyes, while Tala on the other hand spoke

"Why would you do that?" He hissed angrily "After all those years, you went BACK?!" I cringed as his voice grew louder "Kai?! Are you STUPID?!" I just watched with wide eyes as he got angrier

"If Boris OR Voltaire had been there can you imagine what could have happened?! Are you an IDIOT?!" I pressed myself against the wall, I'd never seen Tala this angry. Or at least, if I had I couldn't remember

"I had to know!" I snarled as Tala stopped shouting for a moment

"To know WHAT Kai?! All you have to do is ask us! We remember every gruesome detail!" he turned his back on me

**Tala's POV**

I turned around to shout at Kai again "I can't BELIEVE you did that!" I threw my arms in the air, and Kai, the indestructible Kai Hiwatari, flinched.

"Kai?" I asked softly realising I had maybe gotten a little too angry, as he watched me with wide eyes.

"I just had to know Tala" he whispered

"I know" I sighed as he relaxed, realising I wasn't as angry anymore "I just don't want to see you back there Kai" he nodded

He went to leave so I followed after him leaving Spencer and Bryan alone

"What's it like?" I asked, Kai stopped and turned to face me

"Empty" he began "no one's been there in a long time. The snow was completely untouched; the place was full of dust. I really don't think it's being used anymore"

I nodded "I just, wouldn't go back there Kai. Anything could happen in that place. You don't want to remember Kai" I supplied

"I do want to remember. I hate not knowing Tala" he replied sadly, I cringed at how upset he sounded, but decided to leave it at that and let him go.

"I'll see you later" I said and left. Kai nodded and turned to leave as well.

"Ah, Kai!" I heard Mr. Dickenson say from behind me, I turned around as Kai replied with a 'Hn'

"I got a call from Susumu. He's having guests over tonight and he would like you to be there" Kai looked at him sceptically for a moment

"Fine" he replied.

"Wonderful, I'll go talk to him and arrange when to take you back" Kai just nodded and continued on his way

"Wait! Kai" he turned around "Why don't you train with us?" I asked, He smiled and nodded.

However he didn't get his blade out for the entire afternoon, he spent his time doing physical training instead. Not that I should be bothered.

XXX

**Kai's POV**

As we arrived at the mansion I cringed seeing at least 15 large, expensive cars outside.

I sighed as I got out of the BBA car. Mr. Dickenson smiled at me and closed the door. I watched the BBA car leave for a moment and decided to head into the mansion. I walked up to the large front doors, and quietly pushed them open. Susumu saw me as I walked in a came over to greet me.

"Kai" He smiled, I glanced around the large entrance hall which was crawling with various business men. I grimaced at the thought of having to have polite conversations with each and every one of them

"I would appreciate it if you could talk to our guests" Susumu continued…I scowled and gave him a cold look "Or take your leave" I gave him a cold nod and left to train in the large garden. Hidden from the view of the mansion. I walked down the large lawned area for at least five minutes, and as the mansion left my view I began to train, for most of the evening.

XXX

After a long time training I decided to stop. The sky had grown dark a long time ago, however I wasn't aware if any of the business men had left yet.

I slowly walked back to the mansion, suddenly realising how cold it had become. An icy wind blew past me and snow began to fall, a very light dusting, but it was enough to dampen my clothes and make me cold.I shivered slightly and picked up my pace to get back to the mansion sooner. As I rounded the final corner to the front of the mansion, I was relieved to find that all the cars were gone. I walked into the mansion and was greeted by a maid. A brief nod was my only reply and I carried on to walk through the mansion. Up the large staircase and along the corridor to my room. I closed my bedroom door and leant against it for a moment, wishing I hadn't been out in the snow for so long.

I sat on the window seat for a few minutes, watching as snow began to fall heavier. Although, I wasn't too worried, the chances of being snowed in were so slim.

After almost ten minutes of watching the snow fall, I decided to go to sleep. I quickly changed and crawled into the large bed before drifting off into a hopefully, peaceful sleep.

**Dream**

"You will NOT answer me back boy!" Boris gave me a slap, to which I responded with a cold glare and a "Hn". Boris slapped me again "Do I need to beat it into you boy?" he slapped me again, I could see Tala out the corner of my eye cringing in the croud of Abbey kids, who were all trying to train, but were obviously watching what was happening.

Just at that moment, Voltaire came around the corner and into the large training room we were all currently in. All the young bladers, including myself, stood up straight in respect

"Is my grandson causing trouble?" Voltaire sneered down at me as he spoke

"Yes my lord" Boris replied loyally

"Have him dealt with then" Suddenly, Boris dragged me away...I saw Tala cringe as I was pulled away, however, Tala knew better than to step out of line.

**End Dream**

I shot up in my bed. I had been asleep for only 30 minutes, and already I knew trying to sleep again would be a challenge. The most frustrating problem was that in my dreams, I never found out WHY something had happened. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair...giving the window a quick glance I could see the snow was dying down and the stars were shining through. I smiled at the recent memory of Tala and I sitting watching them.

I fell back down onto my soft pillow and looked at the ceiling, for a good 15 minutes. And Eventually I fell back into a light sleep.

**Dream**

"Don't!" Tala hissed in the dark

"It's only a beyblade!" I replied quietly

"It's Black Dranzer Kai! A blade far too strong for you to handle!" I looked at Tala in the moonlight and smirked

"It'll be fine!" I replied as I snuck out of our cell...

"Kai!" I heard a final hiss from Tala before all I could hear was the echoing of my shoes as I ran down the stone corridor.

**End Dream**

The second time that night I shot up, breathless. I glanced around the room, seeing I had only slept another half an hour, making it just 12:13am. I lay back down and stared out the ceiling.

"Black Dranzer" I whispered in disgust. Forcing my eyes shut, I eventually fell asleep again, hopefully this time I would not wake up until the morning.

XXX

I woke up slowly, sun streaming in through the open curtains. I smiled realising I did actually get a fairly good night's sleep after those dreams. I sat up and stretched before swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

I quickly got changed and made my way along the corridor, down the stairs and straight into the kitchen. I started up the coffee machine, and then found an apple to eat, realising I really hadn't eaten something in a while.

I slowly drank my coffee and ate my apple, and as I did, began to think about Susumu. He sounded so desperate for me to come and live with him, and now I'm here, I hardly see him...

I dismissed the thought and left to train for the day

XXX

**Tala's POV**

Bryan looked across the room at me "I'm worried he's gunna do something stupid" he explained

"Kai won't do anything stupid Bryan" I reassured, although, I wasn't too sure myself. Kai is Kai after all.

"What if he decides to go right into the Abbey?" Spencer asked

"He said it's not being used. So, he should be safe if he DOES decide to go in there. But I don't think he will." I tried to convince, both Bryan and Spencer, and myself.

Bryan nodded in response.

"Is he staying here for today do you know?" Spencer asked, receiving a shrug in reply.

XXX

I walked back into the mansion just as Susumu walked down the stairs "How was training?" he asked, I nodded in reply and he smiled

"I could help you work on your blade?" he asked, I looked at him for a few moments "Or, just help you with some new moves" I continued to look at him. He smiled seeing how little I trusted him

"Come on Kai, you can trust me!" he chuckled; I nodded in response as Susumu left and quickly returned with a few books, ones which I hadn't seen before. "These should do the trick" We headed out into the garden and he began to explain the new moves. Throughout I didn't let him ONCE touch Dranzer, and when I wasn't trying a new move, she spun on a central spot.

"You're very protective of her" Susumu suddenly said, I blinked at him and looked at him

"You don't remember how you got her do you?" I continued to look at him...he smiled and began to explain

"You're mother's father gave her to you. You were very young at the time, so you probably don't remember" I watched him as he smiled at the memory.

Suddenly, a ringing filled the air. Susumu pulled out his mobile and excused himself, to the far end of the garden, far from my view. So I decided to go back inside, and have a short break...

As I entered the entrance hall, I noticed that there were no maids around and as I walked up the stairs, I still couldn't see any. So, I took my chances and went up the right hand side of the split staircase. As I reached the door, I gently twisted the handle, and pushed it open; the corridor was much the same, only there were little metal labels on each door. I took a step towards the first door, about to read the metal label, and at that same moment, I heard the front door to the mansion close with a loud click... I spun around, not expecting Susumu to be back so soon. I quickly shot back to the top of the staircase, which was hidden from view, and pulled the door shut with a click. Taking a glance around the corner, and seeing Susumu heading to the library, presumably to put the books away. Taking my chances, I darted across the staircase, and up the other side, I shot down the corridor and into my room before closing the door loudly and leaning against it. _'Don't let him get that close to catching you again'_ I mentally reminded myself.

Instead of going back outside to train, I decided to draw up my own strategies for each match possibly playable.

I found some paper and pens and began to write out the best strategy for each member of our team to use against each member of the other teams.

'_Tala' _I paused as I thought of the best strategy, he was definitely our toughest opponent, no questions. However, not being able to remember all the training from our Abbey days, made it very difficult to predict how he would blade in the tournament. He used brute force in the last tournament in Russia, however this time around, I was pretty sure he'd use more of a strategy.

I folded up the paper and shoved it into my bag. Deciding I would finish it later.

I sat on the window seat and moments later a quiet knock on my door pulled me from my thoughts, I pulled the door open slightly, a maid was stood on the other side.

"Master Susumu has requested a meal sent to your room" I nodded and opened the door, allowing her to hand me a plate of food. I gave her a cold look, which, after a few seconds, she took as her queue to leave. I closed the door and looked down at the meal she had given me. I couldn't have looked at it for more than a couple of seconds, before I pushed it onto the bedside table. I took my place on the window seat back up and continued to look out the window, completely ignoring the cooling meal.

As the evening dragged on. I began to get bored. So, to pass time, I decided to go and train a little.

I jogged out the mansion's land and onto the Russian roads, I let my feet take me wherever, and eventually, once again I found myself outside the Abbey. I looked at the building and decided once again to have a look inside. I pushed open the iron gates and walked into the grounds. I looked around at the still untouched scenery and walked towards the building. A cold wind blew past me, and I began to realise that it had actually become quite dark already, however I was here now. I pushed open a different door this time and slowly walked in.

This door concealed a long stone corridor, it looked uninviting, however this time I really did want to have a look around.

**Flashback**

"Let me go!" I hissed as a guard pulled me by my arm, along the corridor and away from the training room, towards one of many punishment rooms. I struggled against his grip, and all he did in response was shove me against the wall painfully. I continued to struggle and he very quickly punched me in the stomach. Slightly winded I coughed and he carried on pulling me away...

**End Flashback**

I shook my head and began to walk down the corridor. I passed multiple rooms, however stopped at this one door. It was almost asking me to open it and go inside. I put my hand on the door-handle, however recoiled moments later, deciding just seeing the corridors was enough for now. I headed along this corridor and along another and began to realise just how maze-like the abbey really was. And to think, I probably knew my way around like the back of my hand as a child.

I wound my way deeper into the abbey, and it was then that I began to notice, that the deeper I got into the building, the more lived-in it looked. Not to mention I was slowly recognising things.

**Flashback**

A guard ran his gun along the bars of the cells, waking all the occupants. Tala looked at me in the semi-darkness

"Get up you little shits" I looked over at Tala, it had to be at least two hours early for training.

However the guard only opened our cell door moments later the other children in the abbey remained in their cells. I looked at Tala, Bryan and Spencer in confusion, before taking a step out into the corridor, upon which the guard smacked the back of my head with the gun. I glared at him for a moment before snarling

"What the fuck was that for?" I hissed grabbing the back of my head

The guard picked me up by my scarf, choking me. He then shoved the rest of the demolition boys towards the training room. He dragged me by my scarf all the way down the corridor and into the training room, where he pushed the door open and stepped inside, he closed the door after us and dropped me

"Thank you" Boris turned to face us as the guard left "Now, I'm sure you are wondering why you are here, correct?" I looked at Tala uneasily

"Look at me boy!" I instantly whipped my head back to look at Boris "Now..." He began "You have been chosen to be the representative team of Balkov Abbey. Meaning, you will be the four students who will be entered into tournaments and prove your strength. Your job is also to collect all the bitbeasts possible. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal" I replied sarcastically

"I will have none of that cheek!" Boris snarled before striding across the room and sending a swift punch to my cheek. I fell over in shock and from the sheer force of the punch.

**End flashback**

I looked around the corridor I had managed to get myself to. There was little dust around, it looked much the same as it did before all those years ago, from what I could remember. I looked at the stone walls and at the high ceiling, I could remember the look of this place from when I was younger, clearer than almost anything. I ran down the corridor and found the cells I had expected to be there. It was strange suddenly remembering my way around. I looked up behind me, and sure enough the security camera I expected to be there, was. It looked long out of commission though, the screen was cracked and dusty, the wires behind it looked damaged as well. I ran down the corridor and into another one, everything was perfect, I knew the place exactly as I had all those years later. I glanced up to see the security camera I knew would be there and was shocked to find that it was brand new and I almost fell over when it moved, focusing on myself, in panic I turned and ran back from where I had been

'_There are people here!' _was my first panicked thought I shot along all the corridors and as I left the Abbey skidded into the snow. I landed on my side in the cold ice, drenching my clothes and hair. I quickly pulled myself up and ran as fast as I could out of the Abbey. I ran down the road and back to the mansion. I pushed open the front doors and skidded into the hall, Susumu came out of the living room, hearing the commotion. He looked VERY surprised to see his breathless son, covered in snow and water skidding on the expensive flooring.

"Kai?" he asked worriedly "Alright?" I nodded in response before heading straight up to my room, it was almost 10pm. I closed the door to my room and sighed, as to whether I'd tell Tala, that was another problem in itself.

I quickly crawled under the bed sheets and took a last glance out the window before falling into a troubled sleep

**Dream**

Boris sent his steel-toed boot into my side, a loud crack filled the large training room. Tala and the other demolition boys cringed away as I pulled myself up standing up to Boris. As he lunged forward to punch me, I jumped to the side avoiding his attack easily.

"Little slow aren't we?" I mocked, truly believing I could beat Boris and leave the Abbey

In a flash his hand grabbed my ankle, I gasped in shock as he pulled my foot from underneath me, I fell to the side, smacking my head against the concrete floor.

"What was that young Kai?" he sneered from above me, pulling me up by my hair so I was level with him. In response I spat on his red goggles. He threw me away from himself

"You brat" he snarled as I bounced on the concrete floor. I looked up to see him wiping his goggles on his sleeve, before he replaced them back on his hook-like nose. I pushed myself onto my hands and knees, and then stood up, swaying dangerously. My vision was wavering dangerously and I was worried I would fall over.

He took three swift steps and was towering above me, I felt myself sway dangerously, however I shook my head and tried to stand still. He grabbed my small wrist and lifted me up. I squirmed in his grip, which only caused him to squeeze my wrist harder, and in a swift movement, he threw me into the wall. I crashed into the stone and then landed painfully on the floor, and suddenly found Boris' boot in my side…

**End Dream**

I woke up suddenly...with a gasp and an involuntary whimper. "What did I do?!" I hissed to myself, trying desperately to remember what I had done to earn that punishment…however after a good few minutes of thinking, I still couldn't remember. My dreams were becoming far too frequent for my liking, and I have no idea why….

I glanced at my clock and realised I had indeed had just over 2 hours sleep. It was midnight, roughly.

I sighed and closed my eyes and slowly fell asleep once again.

XXX

I woke up hours later, thankfully I had no more dreams of my past. I rolled over in my bed and stretched slowly…suddenly, yesterday's events in the Abbey came crashing back to me full force….why had I gone in? I growled at my own stupidity… I swung my legs over the side of my bed and ran my hand through my hair, before sighing angrily and standing up. I walked over to the window and sighed again. I quickly got changed and left my room. As I walked down the corridor Susumu walked around the corner

"Ah, Kai" he smiled "I'm heading off for a couple of hours today. I'll see you later" he said quickly and left without another word. I followed him with my eyes as he left, and then decided, as there were no maids about, that I would have a look around the right wing of the house.

I walked down the large steps and waited until I was sure he'd gone, and I quickly ran up to the right side of the mansion, while there were no maids present. I stopped in front of the door and twisted the handle…it was locked. I smacked my fist into the door in frustration. He locked the door!

I growled and wandered back into the mansion, which, I could freely wander around, however, I knew most there was to know about the place now. I wandered up all the flights of stairs until I reached the attic, the only place I hadn't had a good look around. I wandered into the dark attic and took a glance at what was around the room…

Many pieces of furniture occupied the far left corner, however it was all covered in sheets, presumably to protect it from dust and the small amount of sun that came through the small dusty window. There were stacks of boxes to my left, where I had found the beyblade parts previously…I looked to my right, which was full of more furniture and boxes, these boxes however were sealed up and the dust meant I couldn't read what they contained, without making it obvious I'd been snooping around. I walked further into the attic, taking a good look at each and every box as I went. And then, I noticed, there was no wall behind the line of boxes….which meant the attic, did in fact stretch across the entire mansion, rather than being split into two, as I had originally thought.

I walked right down to the back of the large room, and as I reached the corner, I could see a box that I could easily move, to get to the other side. I gently pushed the box, creating a space for me to sneak through.

I ducked to get through, and as I looked up I noticed, that this side of the attic, was never used. There was thick dust coating the floor, and walls for that matter. With every step I took, a cloud of dust formed and lingered…I quickly moved across the dark area to the door I could see at the other side. as I approached it, I briefly thought it may be locked, however those thoughts vanished as the door creaked open slowly. It hadn't been used in such a long time.

I walked down the stairs and into the corridor, which was again, exactly the same as the floor below. I glanced at these doors, which held no metal labels on them. Picking at random I pushed open a door. The room was white, one wall was lined with computers, and the rest of the room was empty…aside from the large window on one side.

I backed out of the room and closed the door, before walking down a little further, and opening another door. This room was filled with books, much like the library, only it was just a fraction of the size. I walked further into this room and had a look at some of the shelves, almost, if not all were on Beyblading and Bitbeasts, training and the computing of Beyblading. I didn't move any of the books, but left the room quickly.

I walked down the corridor and down the flight of stairs to the lower floor. with the metal labels on the doors. I glanced at each label as I walked past

"Computing"

"Training Centre"

"Training Centre"

"Training Centre" I noticed that most of one side of the rooms were ALL training Centre. So I pushed the door open, they had knocked through the walls of all the rooms to make one large area. The room was FILLED with Bey-Dishes, workout equipment, and had lots of metal cupboards lining the walls. I pulled the door shut again, briefly wondering why Susumu hadn't brought me here if he was so intent on helping me train the other day.

Just as I turned around I heard a clicking noise, and the door at the end of the corridor began to open, I turned and shot back towards the stairs, glancing back as I did so, to see a man in a lab coat walk into a room on the right….i blinked in confusion…I'd never seen any lab workers here before….why was he even here in the first place? As the thought entered my mind, the door opened again and another few lab workers came inside, however these were walking further down the corridor, suddenly I realised, as they passed the Training Centre, they were heading up to the computers on the floor above.

I turned and ran up the stairs, as quickly as I could, without making a sound. I shot into the attic and closed the door as quickly as possible I dashed across the attic and dived through the gap, pulling the box back into place after myself. I walked down the stairs and right down and out of the mansion.

I wandered around the mansions large garden and thought to myself

'_Why would he have scientists working here?' _I thought confusedly _'There's a LOT he's not telling me' _I thought with a sigh _'Don't trust him' _my mind screamed, however another part of me wanted to trust him _'He's your father!'_

I growled, should I trust him? Or not? He is my father, I SHOULD trust him, but he's keeping something from me…and just where has he gone today? I sighed and sat on a snowy bench. _'I wish the tournament would start sooner'_ I thought to myself….it was so dull around here. And confusing, all I seemed to do was make things worse for myself. I looked up at the sky just as snow began to fall, heavily. I used the weather to my advantage and began to train, the wind picked up and soon the snow was blowing straight into me, the ice cold flakes pounding against my bare arms. I ignored the sharp pain and continued my training, Dranzer shot around the garden, the only indication as to where she had gone, was her red glowing bit-chip. I smiled as I called her back and she shot into my cold hand.

I shoved my hands, and Dranzer, into my pockets and walked out of the mansion, blocking out the icy wind out of my mind. I must have walked around for at least an hour.

Eventually I made my way home, pushing open the mansion door, I glanced in a large mirror on one of the walls, my hair was thick with snow, and my arms glistened with freezing cold water from the melted flakes, my clothes were soaked through and my lips were blue. I smirked and wandered up the stairs, quickly having a hot shower and changing into dry clothes.

I looked over at the clock, it was only mid-afternoon…I sighed and flopped onto my bed, wishing the day would end sooner.

**Tala's POV**

"Isn't Kai coming here today?" I heard Max ask the group of us, who were sat inside to escape the weather

"I don't know about him, but I wouldn't want to walk in this weather!" Lee replied cheerfully

"I bet he was probably training in it!" Tyson laughed, he was probably right though, even though the rest of the group took his comment as a joke.

"So, what do we do now? We can't really train in THAT" Mariah indicated to the weather

"I guess we watch a movie to pass time" Michael smiled as he wandered over to the shelf of DVD's in the hotel room we were currently sat in. He pulled out a couple of films, however I wasn't really paying attention.

I couldn't help but think about Kai, more specifically whether or not he'd gone back to the Abbey….I cringed at the thought, hoping against everything that he'd managed to keep himself from finding more of his memories in that place. He was much better off forgetting. Bryan noticed my far-off look and silently questioned me, I shook my head, telling him it was nothing…although, it was far from nothing.

XXX

Eventually the evening came to an end. And everyone began to make their way to bed. I was the last up, and after watching the snow fall for a short while, I headed for bed myself, wondering what tomorrow would have in store for us.

XXX

I woke up slowly, and early…I gave the room a quick glance before getting up. I got changed and wandered down the stairs, to find Kai sitting in the breakfast room of the hotel. He was totally lost in his own thoughts…I sat down next to him, he jumped ever so slightly and turned to look at me.

"Alright?" I asked, he nodded in reply and took a sip of his coffee. "You look like you haven't slept well in a while" I said noticing the dark rings under his eyes. Kai shrugged and I decided not to irritate him. After a few minutes he stood up and got himself another coffee…I looked at him uneasily, but he still said nothing

**Kai's POV**

I could tell Tala was watching me, however chose not to look over at him and instead took another sip of coffee.

'_You should tell him what you saw'_ I thought to myself _'He'd never forgive me' _I then thought. I kept my mouth shut and eventually the rest of the gang came down for food.

Just as everyone arrived Mr. Dickenson came down to the tables we were sat around. "Morning" he greeted, receiving various replies "Now, I must dash off, but I have some quick news. The preliminaries for the tournament are going to be held this weekend. Meaning you will have until then off, and after that the tournament will begin." Tyson punched the air enthusiastically and smiled Max cheered earning us a few strange glances from other people in the large room. Mr. Dickenson chuckled and continued "I'll see you at the preliminaries then!" He turned and hurried off. I stared into my mug before abruptly standing up. Most occupants of the table looked at me "Training in ten minutes, understood?" the bladebreakers nodded and I left the room heading straight for the gardens.

I ordered Dranzer around the garden, she thundered through all the tasks I had wanted with ease. I smiled as she shot back into my hand, her blade red hot. I shoved her into my pocket. The bladebreakers were soon walking across the lawns towards me.

As they approached I spoke somewhat harshly "You heard Mr. Dickenson, the preliminaries are this weekend. Which means we have to train for these last few days…understood? No time off"

"Wow, you just said more than you usually do in a week" Tyson chuckled; I sent him a cold glare which instantly shut him up.

The team spent the entire day training. Until the late evening when a BBA car came to take me back to Susumu's mansion. I walked into the dark mansion and slowly walked up the stairs, as I was walking, I noticed light coming from under the door of the right wing. I sighed knowing I couldn't do any more snooping. I went straight to bed, knowing there was a lot of training in store for me tomorrow.

XXX

I woke up the next morning at 8:18am…I sighed and stretched before getting ready for some serious training. I left my room and walked down to the kitchen, a passing maid stopped me on her way "You're father's attending an important meeting and won't be back until tomorrow" she smiled a sickly sweet and incredibly fake smile and left…I was beginning to become very disliked by a handful of the staff working here, just cause of my attitude "problem" as they call it.

I sighed and decided to skip having a coffee and made my way straight to the hotel. It was about 9am when I arrived, a little before perhaps. However as I arrived, the Demolition Boys, AllStars, White Tiger and Majestics were training…however not a single bladebreaker could be found…I growled loudly at the back of my throat in anger…the other teens heard and looked over at me as I walked into the hotel, fuming with anger. The teams who had bothered to get up early followed me to see what would happen.

As I pushed open the door, Ray, Max and Kenny stopped their desperate attempts to wake Tyson…I growled loudly and saw Ray glance nervously at Max as I advanced into the room. I pushed past them and looked at Tyson's sleeping form. I picked up his blade and launcher and I roughly grabbed his ankle and dragged him from the bed…he hit the floor with a thud, but didn't wake up. I heard Johnny snigger in the doorway and decided that enough was enough. So I walked towards the stairs, still dragging Tyson by his foot.

As soon as his head came off the top step and hit the one below he woke up "OW KAI!" he bellowed, echoing in the large staircase. I didn't stop and continued to walk, his head thudding against each and every step. Eventually I let go of his foot. He lay there for a good few minutes before jumping up

"What the hell was that for?!" he complained rubbing the back of his head

"Training" I hissed, pointing to the door and holding out his blade for him. In an instant he was out the door and in the garden.

"Wasn't that a bit harsh?" Mariah asked, I gave her a cold glare

"Would you like to find out?" I snarled, she jumped behind Lee and I smirked. "Didn't think so" I stated.

XXX

**General POV – Somewhere else.**

A dark figure watched the large wall of screens…a young teenage boy ran through the dark stone corridors, and suddenly realising the building wasn't quite as abandoned as he had originally thought dashed for the exit. A scientist turned the screens off and turned to face the other occupant of the room

"Perfect" the dark figure stated…

**MUAHAHAA! Lol. Well, that's another really long chapter…..I really have no life. But, again, it was too long to check over, so I'm just going to hope there aren't any mistakes. If you do spot any…..point them out :).**

**Sorry if I ramble a lot. I don't want this story to be TOTALLY direct to the point. I'm going to make sure other things are included in the story as much as what is going to happen…if that made ANY sense….i'm tired ok?! Lol**

**Don't forget to review. I put a LOT of work into these chapters and I appreciate your thoughts.**

**xflightofthephoenix**


	4. Tournament

Kai's POV

**Kai's POV**

It was already Friday morning. I stretched and looked out the window. There was no snow falling, the sun was shining which made perfect training conditions. I stood up slowly and walked over to the large window. I looked around the grounds and smiled before quickly getting changed and heading to train. I passed a few maids on the way, but less than normal. It seemed that either, a fair few of the maids had gone on holiday, or Susumu was slowly getting rid of them…my money was on the latter. He's such an untrustworthy person.

I began training early. Hours passed, and I continued to train. Until one of the few remaining maids came outside "There is a phone call for you master Kai" she bowed deeply and I snorted. I followed the grumbling maid into the mansion and picked the very old fashioned phone up.

I waited for the other person to speak "Kai?" I heard Ray ask

"Yes?" I replied coldly

"Could you come down to the hotel. We need to work out a strategy for this tournament" Ray explained. I sighed loudly and replied:

"Fine" I hung up before Ray had another chance to speak. I decided to prolong my walk and wandered around the roads for a while. I passed the Abbey, upon which I picked up my pace. I shuddered as I glanced back at the stone building.

XXX

I walked into the hotel and looked around the lobby, no-one there. I walked up the stairs and into the bladebreakers shared room.

"Kai" Kenny smiled

I nodded and sat on the bed nearest the window. I glanced outside as Kenny began to drone on and on, and as I looked, I could have sworn I saw Susumu there. However when I looked again there was no one. I shrugged putting it down to stress.

"So." Ray began "Maybe we should keep Kai for later on in the tournament?" I looked up and blinked "Well, you've improved most, and you've done a lot of training on your own, so that not even we know most of your moves!" Ray explained. I nodded in agreement.

"Great. But who's going to play the preliminaries?" Tyson asked…

"Max" I stated, the bubbly blonde looked over at me in confusion

"Why me?" he asked

"Because, you have a very different style to Ray and Tyson's at blading. If we have you play the preliminaries, we can keep everyone none-the-wiser to how Ray and Tyson will blade." Max nodded in understanding. "Now Max, you've got to stick strictly to defense with as little attack as possible. Understand?" He nodded "We don't want to give ANY moves away unless it's necessary" I finished my speech and sat in silence.

"Right. Now that's that sorted. I guess the best way to do the next rounds would be to have Max fight the first round, then Tyson, and then Ray. Hopefully that should be fine" Kenny smiled and typed frantically on Dizzi

"What about Kai?" Tyson asked

"I think Kai should be kept for the finals" I looked over at Kenny, waiting for his explanation "That way we can deal a surprise to whoever we will be facing" I nodded, keeping to myself that it's almost certainly going to be Tala I face and also that he knows my blading style very well.

"Why don't you stay here tonight buddy?" Tyson asked…I looked at him for a second "We can call Mr. Dickenson and I'm sure he'll tell your dad."

"Yeah." I nodded "He'll be able to get hold of him" I replied

"Kai? You say that like you can't" Ray looked at me closely

"He's at meetings. Loads of them" I gave as my explanation.

"Ah. So you haven't seen him in a while?" Tyson asked

"Few days" I replied…the room fell silent and Tyson walked over to the phone and quickly dialed Mr. Dickenson's number

"Hey Mr. Dickenson!" He smiled at the phone. We could hear Mr. Dickenson's muffled voice on the other end but couldn't hear a word of what he was saying

"Yeah. We were wondering if Kai could stay at the hotel tonight?" Tyson continued "We can all go to the preliminaries together then" Mr. Dickenson spoke again and Tyson replied "He's at some meeting according to Kai" Tyson nodded as Mr. Dickenson spoke "Ok Cheers Mr. D!" he hung up and turned to face us "Mr. Dickenson says it's fine" he grinned. "LUNCH TIME!" he laughed and dashed out the hotel room

"WAIT UP!" Max ran after him and even Ray jogged out. Kenny chuckled and left, leaving me sat in the room. I smirked and followed them down to the food area. The other teams were already there. Tala smiled discreetly at me as we walked in. I gave him a small yet genuine smile in return.

I sat down on the edge of my teams table and sighed as Tyson began to bombard the waitress with orders for different dishes. She sighed in relief as he finished and hurried off to prepare his order. Max burst into fits of laughter as soon as she'd gone and Tyson just grinned sheepishly.

"Shouldn't we be training?" Kenny asked, Tyson glared at him for bringing it up

"We'll let Tyson eat something before he collapses" I replied and closed my eyes while leaning back in my chair. Max tried to hide his giggling but failed miserably. I just smirked as Tyson began to whine about the amount of time it was taking for his food to arrive

"Well you DID order a fair bit" Kenny said to the whining Tyson. I caught Tala's eye from the table he was sat at. I turned my head away. Unable to look him in the eye knowing I had gone back to that place. I saw him turn to Bryan, though his eyes were still on me, he began talking quietly and quickly and I knew it was about me. I however tried not to look like it bothered me. I smirked as Tyson jumped in his seat as his food arrived. I turned to them "Training in an hour" I stated and stood up

"Cheers Kai" Tyson smiled, referring to the fact that I had allowed him time to eat his food. I nodded and wandered out of the hotel lobby and into the garden, thankfully the snow hadn't started falling yet. I walked just a few feet, my feet crunching the snow that was there from the previous night. I stopped to take a deep breath of cold crisp air, when someone spoke

"Kai" I turned my head to see Tala walking towards me. I didn't need his questions so I began to walk away

"You can't keep ignoring me Kai!" he shouted after me, I stopped and turned to face him, allowing my expression to betray nothing. Tala tried to read what I was thinking, how I was feeling, but sighed in defeat as I just looked back at him coldly "What's wrong Kai?" he asked softly

I looked at him for a few moments. I could tell him Susumu's been acting weirdly, I could tell him I went back to the Abbey. But to do either would be stupid so I kept my mouth closed. Tala stood and waited for his answer…I shrugged and shook my head after almost a minute of silence. Tala gave me an angry look "You're a terrible liar" he snapped. I smirked

"That's not going to make me talk Tala" I replied somewhat coldly. He stared at me for a moment

"So there is something wrong then" he grinned as I realized I had just walked into his 'trap'

I just glared coldly at him and he just stared back expressionlessly .

"There's nothing wrong that's worth talking about" I lied. I hated doing so to Tala, but I didn't need him prying. He looked at me for a second before nodding, I began to walk away, and Tala followed. We walked in complete silence for a few minutes, however it was not uncomfortable. I purposely avoided going even near the Abbey, and eventually we found ourselves back at the hotel. The bladebreakers were outside training, while the other teams sat around chatting. Thankfully Ray had made sure they were exercising rather than using their blades. I smiled slightly and walked over to join them.

XXX

**Ray's POV**

"I swear he's like a machine!" Tyson whined to the other teams

Mariah giggled "Why?" she asked

"He just never stops! He's not eaten anything since he got here and he's STILL going!" Tyson stamped his foot as Kai continued to train. He's was at the moment, doing one-handed press ups. Tyson sighed and sat down

"Did I tell you to stop?" Kai's cold voice asked as he continued to train

"Just cause you're a machine doesn't mean everyone else is!" Tyson said half jokingly half serious. Kai growled at the back of his throat and stood up.

"Finally!" Tyson laughed. Kai leant against the wall and watched the group

"Does this mean we're done training?" Max asked Kai, who didn't respond.

"He's just being a grump now" Tyson whispered to Max loudly so everyone could hear, I guessed it was meant to be a joke. Kai's eyes shot open before he turned on his heel and left the hotel.

"Smooth Tyson" Kenny said angrily "Now it's up to Ray to get your training going again. And Kai had it all planned" Tyson grinned sheepishly and Kenny sighed. Before showing me Dizzi's screen, which held the plan for training Kai had set up.

**Kai's POV**

As soon as I'd turned the corner I ran into the streets of the city we were in. and as I got further into the city, I could see Susumu's car…I blinked to make sure I wasn't imagining it, and just at that moment, Susumu stepped out of a building and into the car which began to slowly drive, I decided to take my chances and sprinted after the car, I must have been sprinting after the car for a good five minutes, and I thanked the fact that I could run for such a long time. As the car stopped, I crouched out of view…as Susumu stepped out of the car, and through the gates which led to the Abbey. I gasped, HE was working in the Abbey? I watched for a few moments more, but nothing else happened and no one else left or entered the Abbey. I sighed in anger and walked back to the hotel….I didn't dare go back inside, just incase. I shot back into the Hotel garden, Ray had started the team's training again. I walked over and leant against the wall, allowing my thoughts to wander…

**Ray's POV**

Tyson grinned as Kai seemed totally lost in his thoughts. He bent down and picked up a handful of snow. Max shook his head rapidly to tell Tyson not to. The rest of the teams watched with interest.

Tyson made the snow into a snowball and surprisingly quickly, he launched it at Kai. Just as the snow was about to hit Kai, he moved his head just slightly to the side, without even opening his eyes, allowing the snowball to hit the wall and fall to the floor as dusty snow. Tyson stood in awe as to how Kai knew to move. Kai's eyes opened suddenly, pupils suddenly shrinking with the sudden light change

"Finished?" he snarled "10 laps Tyson. Go" Tyson didn't complain and began running almost instantly. Mariah looked at Kai before carefully speaking

"How did you do that?!" he asked

"I'm not stupid" was Kai's response, she looked over at Lee

"I don't think even our senses could have picked that up" she said to him, rather loudly.

"You're right" Lee replied, Lee looked over at Tala who was staring at Kai

**Tala's POV**

I watched Kai. How did he manage that?! He can't even remember most of the Abbey, yet he still appears to have all his skills from training, I continued to watch him, until I realized that the other teenagers were watching me. I looked off in the other direction and thankfully everyone went back to their own conversations and left us alone.

I walked over to Kai, he just looked at me antisocially with a look that clearly said 'I don't wanna talk about it' so I decided not to approach the subject. Instead I just leant next to him against the wall. The day's training finally came to an end and we headed inside for food. Tyson, naturally was first into the dining hall. Everyone sat down and ordered their food when a young waitress came over to take their orders…

**Ray's POV**

I looked at the waitress in sympathy, she was obviously new and picking Tyson as one of her very first customers wasn't the brightest idea. Eventually Tyson finished and almost everyone had ordered…except for Kai. The waitress turned to him

"And what would you like sir" she asked politely. Kai said nothing, he continued to look at his glass on the table…"Sir?" she asked again, trying to get his attention. Kai stubbornly continued to looked at his glass, eyes filled with anger, for some unknown reason

"He'll have the same as me" Tala spoke up. The waitress nodded and left. I turned to look at Kai, who was glaring intently at Tala. "You have to eat something Kai!" Tala snapped "You may be used to it but you're body can't handle the training you put yourself through, on such a small amount of food" Kai continued to glare "Stop being stubborn" Tala snarled.

"He's right ya'know" Michael spoke from the other end of the table "I don't know how you're still going!"

"You should have been in hospital weeks ago with the way you're pushing yourself to do your best with such little food." Emily added

"It's unhealthy" I voiced. Kai glanced at me angrily but said nothing

"I'm fine" he growled through gritted teeth. He stood up and quickly left the table, before anyone could stop him. Tala stood up after and followed him out of the room. Kai roughly shoved open the door and left, Tala following closely, just before the doors closed, we could hear Tala shout at Kai, but the second the wooden doors shut we couldn't hear a thing.

**Kai's POV**

"Stop running away!" Tala snapped at me "You need to stop acting like you're a machine Kai, you're NOT! You did this in the Abbey so many times! And HOW many times did you end up in the hospital wing?!" Tala snapped. I said nothing "See? Too many to count!!" he snarled

"Leave me alone" I replied in an incredibly calm voice, given the situation. Tala glared at me

"No" was his simple reply

"Get off my case" I snapped and continued to walk out of the hotel. Tala however, didn't take the hint and continued to have a go.

"Why are you acting as if you're still at the Abbey?!" he asked…I stopped and looked at him "You're acting as if you're forced to train the way you do!" I carried on walking "Kai, enough is enough" he grabbed my wrist and spun me around to face him I looked at him angrily for a few moments before pulling my wrist away from him, however his grip was tighter than I had anticipated "Kai, what's wrong with you?" I looked at him but kept my mouth firmly closed. He watched me for a few moments, before releasing my wrist. I took my chances and began to walk almost instantly. Tala didn't follow me and instead went back inside.

XXX

**No One's POV – Elsewhere**

The shady figure picked up a cell phone and quickly dialed a number "Yes. He's been inside the Abbey" he stated

"Perfect" the other voice stated

Silence fell upon the conversation when one of the two men spoke "I shall have to have a word with young Kai when he returns home"

XXX

**Kai's POV**

I wandered around the town for a long while. Not really thinking about much and eventually I found myself back at the hotel. I sighed and sat on the snowy bench and looked up at the grey sky.

I spent most of the evening sat outside enjoying the silence and watching the snow falling. I shivered involuntarily from the cold

"You should put a jacket on" a voice spoke behind me

"Don't start again Tala" I replied coldly He sat down next to me silently but said nothing more. I continued to look up at the sky and sighed

"You ready for tomorrow?" Tala looked at me, I shrugged in response and stood up and left.

**Tala's POV**

I watched Kai leave and sighed before heading inside myself. I didn't bother talking to anyone from the other teams and instead went straight to sleep.

XXX

I woke up early the next day and began to wake up the rest of the demolition boys before we left for the dining area. As we walked down, I was surprised to find everyone else sat around already, all except for Kai that is.

"Morning guys!" Max smiled as we sat down I nodded and Spencer smiled. "Hey, you haven't seen Kai have you?" I shook my head and Max nodded in understanding

"He's probably at the stadium already, knowing Kai" Tyson smiled and took another large mouthful of cereal.

XXX

We arrived at the stadium almost an hour later. And sure enough, Kai was already there, doing some training in the locker room. Tyson smiled "Morning Kai", Kai looked up and then with a slight nod, continued to train. We all sat around the room while Kai continued to train in the corner.

**Ray's POV**

I watched as Kai continued to train, then the door opened, and Susumu stepped inside, Kai stopped his sit-ups to stand and watch his father.

"Kai" Susumu smiled, Kai narrowed his eyes. Susumu shuffled nervously "Will you be coming home tonight?" Kai looked him for a long moment

"Yes" was his short, cold reply.

"No problem, I'll make sure a meal is made for you" Susumu smiled and turned to leave

"That won't be necessary" Kai replied, Susumu turned around again and looked at the cold teen for a few moments

"You have to eat something Kai" He replied and stepped into the room more. Kai gave him a stony glare yet Susumu didn't shuffle nervously. "I'll see you later" Susumu sighed angrily and left.

"Dude that was cold!" Tyson watched Kai with a shocked expression for a moment "Did you HAVE to be so nasty?" Kai glared at the blue-haired teen "Sorry" Tyson held his hands up and took a step back.

Just then the door again opened and Mr. Dickenson stepped inside "Morning" he smiled "The preliminaries are going to be starting shortly" he smiled and left.

XXX

The preliminaries finished mid afternoon and all the teams in our group had advanced, naturally, well, we were all world class bladers.

The large BBA bus drove us back to the hotel. When we arrived everyone sat in the large gardens, small conversations broke out between all of the teens and eventually, Kai stood up.

"You going home?" Max asked with a smile

Kai nodded "Yeah" he began to walk away

"See you tomorrow then buddy" Tyson smiled Kai nodded and left the hotel

**Kai's POV**

I slowly made my way back to the mansion. I walked up the large gravel path as slowly as possible without walking backwards. I slowly pushed the large wooden doors open and stepped into the entrance hall. Susumu came out of the living room as I was walking across the large hall.

"Kai" I turned to face him "Was it nice seeing where you grew up?" he grinned as I took a step back

"Wha?" I asked

"You shouldn't break into places Kai, you'll get yourself into trouble….well, more than you are at the moment" I looked at him in horror for a moment

"What possessed you to go back to somewhere you spent years trying to escape from?" he sneered as he stepped closer to me I took a few steps backwards, and felt myself panic as I felt the wall behind me. "Well, no matter, you may have escaped all those years ago, but you've walked straight back into hell" he grinned evilly as I suddenly made a dash for the door. However my escape attempt lasted only that split second as I felt Susumu's hand close around my ankle, I fell to the floor painfully and was very suddenly pulled back to my feet by my father.

He pulled me up the large stairs and into the right side of the mansion, I felt panic rise within me as I wondered what was in store for me.

He shoved me into what looked to be a training room, the walls were white and lined with training equipment. I didn't get much of a chance to look properly at the equipment, as I was roughly shoved into another room. This one however was lined with MUCH different equipment. I squirmed in Susumu's grasp but to no avail, he was a lot stronger than I had anticipated. He roughly threw me onto the floor and watched me for a moment before planting his heavy boot into my side. I gasped in pain and curled up as a loud crack echoed in the large room. Susumu laughed as I cringed

'_He's definitely Voltaire's son' _I thought to myself as his boot connected with my side again, just as painfully as last time, and the same loud crack filled the room. I sucked in my breath as pain shot down my sides and soon I found myself biting my lip to stop myself from crying out in pain. He kicked my chest over and over, thankfully though no more of my ribs broke. I shut my eyes to try and block the pain, and suddenly felt a sharp pain from Susumu's boot against my cheek. I rolled back a few meters and spat out blood from where my teeth had cut my lip from the kick. I spat again and wiped any blood from my face before coughing and rubbing my cheek. Susumu pulled me to my feet and stared at me for a minute, the blinding pain was making my vision slightly off and before I knew what was happening, his fist connected painfully with my face.

'_That's going to leave a mark' _I thought bitterly.

Susumu chuckled to himself and swiftly kicked my knee sending me crashing to the floor again, he laughed sinisterly to himself and left the room swiftly slamming the heavy door behind himself. I coughed and remained still for a few moments. Eventually I pulled myself to my feet, painfully and slowly and left the room.

As I was about to leave the training room, I glanced around the door frame, the last thing I needed was to bump into Susumu. I noticed him walking into another room and was about to take my chance when a maid walked into the room I was currently 'hidden' in. she gasped at the mess I was in…..clearly a lot worse than I had originally thought. She pulled me to the side.

"Oh Kai" she sighed and looked around the room "we have to get you down to your room" she took a quick peek out the door and beckoned me over. "I'll walk ahead to make sure Susumu's not there, you follow me" I nodded and followed her along the corridor, as quietly as I could with the pain I was in. She quietly opened the door and I stepped into the entrance hall "Now, you get to your room quickly and sort yourself out Kai"

I watched her for a second "Why are you so bothered?" I asked

She just smiled and ushered me away "I was your mother's friend" she smiled and continued to push me towards my room. I quickly ran down the corridors as I heard Susumu's loud voice in the corridor talking to a scientist or maid or someone. I almost fell into my room, my ribs aching and my knee wasn't much better.

I walked past a mirror and stopped to look at the damage. My eye was a nasty dark blue almost black colour, as were both of my cheeks. I cringed thinking what state my chest would be in. I gently touched my cheek and flinched at the pain. I sighed and pulled off my shirt, my entire chest was covered in bruises, all dark blue in colour.

Deciding that I should get some rest before the next round of the tournament tomorrow I made my way over to my bed, my knee jarring with every step I took. I sighed and pulled the covers over myself…hoping that whoever the maid was would keep Susumu away from me that night. I looked up at the ceiling_ 'The only family I have left ... and now look at me' _I felt a single tear roll down my cheek and I rolled over closing my eyes and trying to fall asleep.

XXX

I woke up slowly the next morning, early as usual, 7:08am. I rolled over and sat up slowly, my ribs aching at the movement. I swung my legs over the side and stood up, however my knee suddenly gave way and I crashed to the floor. I pulled myself to my feet again, just as the maid walked in, hearing me walking around I assumed.

"Morning Kai" she smiled softly "Sleep well?" she asked

"As well as can be expected" I replied, deciding to lose the cold attitude, she could be my only friend in this place.

"We're going to need to sort you out for today's battles" she said as she pulled out a roll of bandages amongst other things. I sighed and sat on the bed, picking up a single roll of the white material. I rolled up my trouser leg and for the first time had a look at me knee which was, in short, a mess. I quickly wrapped the bandage around it, tightly and thickly, for as much support as possible. "Put this on as well" she handed me another bandage which I put over the original. "That should do the trick" she smiled "Now for those bruises" I glanced up at her before heading over to the mirror, the bruises had gotten darker overnight. I cringed wondering how much makeup she'd have to use.

"Sit down" she instructed, pointing to the bed. I walked over and sat on the very edge of the large bed. She pulled out various make-ups and began to cover the bruises, as gently as possible.

I flinched as she tried to cover my cheek "Sit still, I'm almost done" she commanded and put a little more makeup on. She quickly covered over my eye with makeup and stood back to admire her work. I glanced over in the mirror; she'd done a pretty good job. I sighed, hoping no-one would look closely enough as to see the bruises underneath. I also began to wonder whether or not I'd be able to hide my knee, and my ribs were aching to a point of becoming unbearable. She looked at me and as if knowing exactly what I was thinking she spoke

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about your ribs" she sighed "Now, just try not to act differently when you meet up with your friends. And I wouldn't try to do a runner. It may result in you landing yourself back in the Abbey at the hands of Boris and Voltaire" she looked at me for a moment as I stared at her totally bewildered

"Boris and Voltaire?! They're still here!?" I asked completely horrified

"Unfortunately yes." She replied "and you'll get a much easier ride by staying here" I nodded in understanding. Punishments with Boris, from what I can remember, were far more brutal than the one I received yesterday, the ones from Voltaire? I'd rather not remember.

"Now, you should get down to the hotel, you have to be at the stadium for 9" I nodded and glanced at the clock 8:02am. I gave her a smile in thanks and left, thankfully without bumping into Susumu on my way.

XXX

I wandered through the town, avoiding the Abbey completely. I had no idea Boris AND Voltaire were still there. They were probably watching me last time I went inside. I growled knowing now that there was a lot more to worry about during my stay. I arrived at the hotel quickly, considering the pain my knee was giving me. The other teams were already outside, so I walked over silently as I could and stood to the side of the group. I tried my best to mask the pain that shot up my leg with every step I took. I sat down under the tree and after just a few minutes was slumped against it, lost in thought

"Yo, Kai! We gotta go!" Tyson called, I snapped my head up to look at him, and the rest of the teens that were watching me. I pushed myself up slowly, using the tree as discreetly as possible to get all the pressure off my knee.

I walked over to the group quickly and we all piled onto the bus. It was then that I realized I would be around Tala all day…and he was VERY observant. I sighed and looked out the window, looking at my make-up covered face in the reflection of the glass. Eventually we pulled up outside the stadium. I was the last, as usual, to leave the bus and I trailed at the back of the group of people. We arrived into the locker room and I slumped in the corner as usual, unwillingly putting pressure on my ribs, I tried not to jump and shifted so I wasn't hurting myself.

Eventually the groups all left to attend their matches; I however, chose to stay in the locker room while various teams wandered in and out. I wasn't needed, so why should I leave? The day slowly came to an end and soon all the teams were all back in the room. And we had all advanced, knocking out the smaller, unheard of teams.

"Let's get back!" Tyson smiled, everyone began to leave the room. Surely enough I was once again alone in the room. I pushed myself to my feet and slowly followed, allowing a small barely noticeable limp.

I sat at the back of the bus, which, thankfully today was dropping me back at the mansion, which saved me the walk. As I got off the large BBA bus I sighed and cringed knowing what COULD be in store for me, however I pushed the thoughts aside thinking _'It's better than the Abbey'_ I walked up the path slowly, aware the bus was still just at the end of the drive, the other side of the large iron gates.

I knocked on the large wooden doors, the bus was still sitting there, quite why I wasn't sure. Susumu opened the door and looked at me for a second before focusing behind me at the bus. I saw a few of the teens wave at him from the window. He smiled back and gave them a small awkward wave before the bus drove away. I looked up as he stepped aside to allow me inside. Nervously I took a few steps and he slammed the heavy doors behind me. I dared to glance over at him and almost cringed as he spoke…

"Welcome Home" He grinned

**Another Chapter done (: if there are any typos, or sentences that don't make sense, try to figure out what you think I meant. I'm tired lol. Sorry it's taken so long as well!!**

**Review!!**

**xxx**


	5. What Next?

**Kai's POV**

As soon as the wooden doors were shut Susumu gave me a hard kick, I stumbled back into the wall with the force and clenched my ribs in pain

"Stand up straight!" He commanded, I pulled myself as straight as was manageable and coughed as Susumu grabbed my wrist painfully tight and dragged me up the stairs…

He threw me into the training room roughly and walked past me; opening the doors to the other room…I pulled myself to my feet and winced in pain. Susumu grabbed my wrist again and pulled me into the room, slamming the door shut after.

He turned to face me as I watched him almost nervously…anticipating what could happen next. He swiftly moved across the room and was soon right in front of me, I cringed and stepped back, however he just took a step forward. I stepped back again and came into contact with the wall behind me and then he grabbed my wrist. I looked at him in terror, he sneered at the fear I was obviously displaying. He very quickly placed his hand on the side of my head, I flinched, expecting him to at least slap me…I sighed in relief, and very suddenly he used the hand on the side of my head to slam me into the wall. My vision blurred almost instantly from the sudden harsh contact, however this didn't stop Susumu, he slammed my head against the wall over and over. I coughed as my vision began to fade however it was brought back suddenly by the sound of his voice

"Having fun?"

He suddenly used my wrist, which he still held on to tightly, to fling me across the room, where I hit the wall, none to gracefully and landed on the floor heavily. He sneered at me from across the room and walked over, sending his steel-toed boot straight into my side, receiving a loud snap in return. I whimpered loudly and curled up

**Flashback**

_I whimpered loudly and curled up_

"_Do not make a sound! Do I make myself CLEAR?!" Boris snapped, kicking my side_

"_Yes" I coughed and curled up more_

"_Get out of my site!" Boris roared. I quickly pulled myself to my feet and dashed across the room, pulling the door open and shooting off down the long hallways to my cell._

**End Flashback**

I opened my eyes slowly and sighed as again my flashback had given me no useful information. It was then I realized, that Susumu had already taken his leave…leaving me along in the room.

Moments later the maid from before came rushing into the room. I cringed as I tried to sit up painfully and slowly. She crouched down next to me and gently helped me to stand

"Susumu's left" she spoke softly

**Maid's POV**

Kai's eyes began to roll and he began to sway on his spot. I pulled his arm over my shoulder and began to walk, it was only then that I realized that he had somehow gotten a cut on his head. There was blood trickling down his neck and onto my clothes. I held on to him tightly as he stumbled slightly.

Eventually we arrived in his room. His hair was now thick with blood and he was nearly unconscious. I sighed and lay him down on his bed. I pulled the covers over him and made sure he was as comfortable as possible. I sat down next to him quietly, I couldn't let him sleep, there was clearly something badly wrong with him. I'd keep him up by talking to him…this is going to be a long night

XXX

**Kai's POV**

I had, during the night lay down for a bit, but she refused to let me sleep. I rolled over however my head began spinning as I sat up. She smiled softly as I yawned

"How are you feeling today?" she asked

"Like I've been hit by a bus" I moaned and winced as I began to stand up from the bed.

"We need to wash all the muck out your hair" she indicated to the bathroom.

XXX

I moaned as the noisy hairdryer continued to buzz beside my head, the heat was aggravating whatever cuts I had and was making it sting. Eventually she stopped and sighed as she began to pull out multiple makeup cases.

"Now, we need to cover the bruises, sorry but I can't do anything about you're head" I nodded gently, however regretted it as my head began to pound even more and darkness began to creep into my vision.

"Kai stay awake" she said loudly, making me jump.

"Right, here we go" she said as she began covering my bruises once again.

XXX

"Mr. Dickenson's here to pick you up" she spoke as she looked out the window.

"Right" I replied, I stood up to leave the room and suddenly dizziness hit me and I began to sway, my vision darkening suddenly, however I managed to stay upright, thanks to my new and only friend in the mansion.

"Ok?" she asked as she helped me stay on my feet

I nodded gently and we began to leave as Mr. Dickenson knocked on the door, she ran ahead to open it. I continued to slowly walk over and smiled as Mr. Dickenson greeted us "Morning" I looked at him for a moment and "hn'd" in reply.

"There are just a few matches today Kai. The bladebreakers aren't fighting, but you should be there" I nodded, a little too vigorously and my vision began to sway.

"Let's go then!" He smiled and left the mansion, indicating that I should follow

"I'll see you later Kai. Be careful today" The maid spoke, I nodded gently and followed Mr. Dickenson outside to the car.

I sat down and closed my eyes, I had a terrible headache and the slightest movement of my head made my vision waver. I sighed as Mr. Dickenson spoke to me:

"How are you today m'boy?" he asked

"Fine" I replied shortly wishing he wouldn't ask me anything else…thankfully he only coughed awkwardly and looked out the window. I sighed and closed my eyes again, head still spinning.

Eventually we pulled up outside the hotel and I slowly climbed out the car after Mr. Dickenson. I squinted in the bright light and walked slowly through the snow to the hotel…

**Kenny's POV**

"Have any of you noticed Kai acting strangely recently?" I looked at the group of teens who were all gathered in our hotel room.

"Yeah, I thought that too, he's being even more antisocial than usual" Mariah looked at Tala, and soon nearly everyone else was

"Listen. There's only so much I can get out of Kai you know what he's like. He's much happier dealing with his problems on his own. If I interfere it may make everything worse" Tala replied

"Yeah, but anything's gotta be better than leaving him to suffer with whatever's bothering him" Max said quietly "He looked awful yesterday"

"I know Max" Tala replied

"But how are we gunna get Kai to talk. It's not like you can just go up to him and say 'what's up' " Michael spoke

"I suggest. That for now, we just get Tala to talk to him. If we really can't get him to talk, then I guess we'll get Spencer, Bryan AND Tala to find out what's up" I gave my suggestion

**Kai's POV**

I sighed in despair….the lift was broken. Meaning I would have to walk up god knows how many flights of stairs with the busted knee. I sighed and walked over to the stairwell before slowly climbing the stairs. I could feel my knee jarring with every step I took and I had to stop and take deep breaths often as my vision blurred. Eventually I made it to the right floor and I slowly walked along the hallway, stopping outside our room. I knocked on the door, and suddenly realized that I was totally out of breath.

As the door opened I pulled myself up straight and slowed my breathing as much as possible. I thought I had done a reasonable job, however the looks on their faces said otherwise.

**Tala's POV**

As Michael pulled the door open Kai pulled himself straight and walked in without a word. He leant against the wall and closed his eyes, as per usual.

Thankfully someone spoke to break the silence that now echoed in the room

**Kai's POV**

"Well…..we don't need to be at the stadium, till 1…so we've got about 3 or so hours till we have to be there. We should probably just get some training done." Kenny piped up. I cringed as unnoticeably as possible….I'd have to walk down the stairs, and stand watching while they train.

"Let's go then!" The group left

I sighed

I followed slowly, my head was spinning as I slowly made my way down the stairs, I stumbled countless times and almost completely blacked out as I got to the last flight.

As we walked outside I could hear the blades of the other teens clashing together in battles. I just glanced briefly at my team and then leant heavily against the wall as my head began to throb more so than before. I sighed and slid down the wall till I was sat comfortably on the grass.

After a while I left the groups training and went inside the hotel, however as I passed the public bathroom, I caught my reflection in a mirror...I walked in the room and closed the door, thankfully it was empty. I stared at myself in the mirror for a good minute, I looked a mess. I had no idea I looked quite as bad as I did. My hair was limp, my skin paler than usual, which only made the tattoos on my cheeks look bolder, my eyes were dark and the pupil's odd sizes. I was slumping which only made me look exhausted. No wonder they thought something was wrong, I looked like death warmed up, but to be fair, I felt like it too. My head was still pounding…I nervously reached up to find the cut, which was a lot bigger than I had originally thought, I stretched for a good 7 centimeters along the side of my head, and it was bleeding still, just a little, as when I pulled my hand back, there was blood on my fingers. I sighed and decided it was best to just leave it.

I splashed water on my face in an attempt to wake myself up, and make myself look more awake; however I still looked just as bad as before.

I left the room and wandered back outside, and again leant against the wall. Eventually the BBA bus came to take us to the stadium, I slowly climbed onto the bus and went straight for my usual spot at the back. Thankfully no one decided to join me.

We pulled up to the stadium and everyone shot off the bus, leaving me to trail behind. Naturally we headed straight for the locker rooms, as usual. I sat in the corner not saying a word to anyone

"Kai!" I was snapped back to reality by Tyson's loud voice, I looked at him blankly for a second "We haven't got any matches today have we?"

"No" I replied softly. My head was still pounding every little movement, every sound only made it worse. I sighed and leant back against the wall behind me.

The teams came and went as their matches began and ended. I stayed in my spot and thankfully the room finally emptied. I sighed as silence surrounded me. I closed my eyes and fell into a light sleep.

XXX

"Kai?!" I heard a distant call, I slowly opened my eyes, I'd fallen into a deep sleep?

I stood up slowly, using the wall to keep myself from falling over. I had no idea just how much time had passed since I fell asleep.

I could feel myself becoming light headed from suddenly standing up, and for a horrifying moment I thought I was going to black out, but thankfully, not.

I wandered the corridors for a few moments, I couldn't remember which way I had come from, but eventually I found Max, who was looking for me.

"There you are buddy!" Max smiled and waved as I walked over. I said nothing as I began to feel even worse. I could hear the others in the nearby corridors, I guess they were looking for me too

"We're gunna get going now" Max smiled and turned around just as the rest of the group found us, they then began walking to the bus, me following closely behind.

XXX

**Max's POV**

Eventually the bus pulled up outside Kai's house…well mansion. "See you tomorrow then Kai" Mr. Dickenson smiled, Kai walked off the bus without a word, and as he walked up the path a maid from the mansion walked down to greet him. She kept glancing back towards the door, said a few words, and led Kai into the house.

The bus began moving again and we headed back to the hotel…

**Kai's POV**

"Susumu's doing work in his study this evening" she began "So you should be ok, unless he finishes early. I suggest you keep your head down tonight, maybe get an early night" I nodded gently in response "how was today?" she queried

"Difficult" I replied honestly, she smiled sympathetically

"Hopefully tomorrow will be easier, now let's get you to your room in one piece" she smiled and pushed the wooden door open I nodded and followed her

I shut my bedroom door quietly, she'd left me up here to make sure Susumu was still working for a while so I could relax. I sighed and sat gently on the bed thinking over the day, and what an awful day it had been. I jumped as I heard my door open. I spun round and almost lost my balance, my head spinning and vision wavering. I used my hand to steady myself and found it was only the maid.

"He's in an awful mood" she sighed as she quietly closed the door. I sighed, that meant I was in for a rough night. She gently closed my door and left me to get a little rest, promising me she would get here to warn me if Susumu was headed up if she could.

I gently sighed hoping to get some rest

XXX

Unfortunately my prayers went unanswered as Susumu pushed the door open with such force that a crashed into the wall, waking me up with a start.

"Get up" he sneered, stepping aside to reveal the form of my only other living relative, Voltaire I cringed away on seeing him, which only made him curl his lip in disgust

"Do not dare flinch again boy" he snarled. I kept my features still and watched as they turned to leave, commanding me to follow.

I obeyed, trying not to get myself into any more trouble than I was already in. I followed them to the main entrance hall, not wishing to go any further, and as if noticing my hesitation to follow Voltaire turned around, I slowed down to nearly a stop a few feet from the pair. Voltaire glared down at me with his harsh eyes, and quickly, considering his age, backhanded me roughly, flinging my head to the side painfully.

I slowly turned my head back and Voltaire snarled at the obvious look of disobedience on my face before roughly grabbing the top of my arm and pulling me after his son. His grip was tight, painfully tight, and I knew it was going to leave a mark, but that was the least of my worries.

We entered a different room and inside there was only a staircase leading down into what could only be the cellar, Voltaire shoved me to the front of himself and Susumu, so they could make sure I wouldn't run away. Susumu gave me a rough jab in my back to speed up my walking, but the steps were crumbling and clearly hadn't been used in some time, making it difficult to walk at a steady pace.

Eventually we reached the bottom, which was lit dimly with electric lights hanging from the ceiling, Voltaire and Susumu pushed in front of me, Voltaire grabbed my arm and proceeded to continue dragging me.

Eventually we found an old room; it was darker than the corridor and made seeing anything around me nearly impossible.

Suddenly a kick caught me off-guard, slamming into my back, and sending my straight into the cold, stone floor. I coughed as I made contact with the rough ground and before I could even focus my eyesight on anything, someone had grabbed my hair and was pulling me to my feet. I didn't get a chance to look at who it was that was holding me up, as a well aimed punch caught my cheek. I would have fallen, but whoever it was, was still holding me up. I coughed again as someone kicked my stomach, painfully hard feeling the wind rush from my lungs, I took in a shaky gasp of breath and tried not to cough again.

Whoever it was let me drop to the ground. I pulled myself to my feet and stood as straight as I could, my eyes finally able to adjust to see the pair.

From nearly out of nowhere Susumu was swinging something towards my side, on instinct I tried to jump backwards, however what felt like a crowbar, smashed into my side, I could not only feel my ribs crack, I could hear them too, echoing in the stone room. I cringed and grabbed my side as Susumu smashed the crowbar into my knee, sending me crashing down to the floor.

I coughed and whispered "why?" Susumu started to laugh

"You have gotten soft since leaving the Abbey Kai" Voltaire spoke loudly in the fairly small room "So, we're going to toughen you up again, ready for when you return to your Biovolt training" I stared at him in disbelief

"Biovolt is gone" I whispered, hissing in pain

"No Kai, Biovolt has been here ever since you were born, and it'll be here long after you die" I cringed and hissed

"You're deluded" I snarled angrily, almost instantly I regretted doing so. However I wasn't quite prepared for the response

I braced myself for another bashing with the crowbar, I felt a shaper more concentrated pain, and then I realized, I hadn't been hit, I'd been stabbed

I whimpered quietly as he pulled the knife from my side, just below my broken ribs. Blood began to soak my clothes almost instantly; I coughed as I felt myself needing the floor for support more and more.

Voltaire laughed as Susumu plunged the silver blade into my side again I choked a sob out as he pulled the knife out. Voltaire stepped forward, with rope in his hands, he quickly tied my wrists together, impossibly tight for me to get free. And without warning something lashed against my back, tearing my t-shirt which fell to my wrists. Again, another lash against my back, and I realized, with a shuddering breath that Voltaire had a whip.

Again the whip snapped across my back, I hissed all my breath out, willing myself not to scream. However only one lash later a scream was torn from my throat. Another hit and I collapsed to the floor, unable to remain on my feet, Susumu kicked my side hard and I heard a crack to add to my already broken ribs. I whimpered as I rolled across the floor

"Leave him there" Susumu snarled at Voltaire, however my grandfather stepped towards me slowly

"Have a maid sort him out and I'll deal with the rest. We can't have him die down here" he growled and swiftly strode from the room, Susumu turned to me, holding the crowbar, and before I could even flinch, a sharp pain erupted through my head and I felt myself fall to the floor and my vision fade to black.

XXX

I woke up god knows how many hours later, a few of my newly acquired injuries had been bandaged tightly, other's not. My ribs were aching with every gasp of breath I took and my head was throbbing painfully. I cringed and sat up, hearing clanking. I looked down; both my ankles and both my wrists had shackles around them, with chains connecting all four together. I could probably stand up still, the chains seemed to be long enough. I tried but instantly my knee buckled under the pressure. I came crashing back down on to my already mangled knee, sending sharp pain shooting up my leg. I hissed and sat back down leaning against the wall. I sighed and closed my eyes my head throbbing painfully, it was easier to keep my eyes shut than make my head hurt more trying to keep my vision focused.

I had no idea just how long I'd been sat there, but eventually the door opened, however to my dismay, it was Voltaire standing facing me. He snarled at my clearly pitiful form

"You're disgusting" he spat at my now bare feet "Get up" he hissed, I pulled myself to my feet, but quickly came crashing back down as my knee gave way. He sighed angrily and yanked me up by my shoulder. I stupidly let a whimper escape my lips and suddenly found myself hit the wall and land in a heap on the floor

I pushed myself up onto my elbows, looking down at the floor, pain exploded in my left shoulder as Voltaire presumably bashed me with the crowbar, the force sent me crashing back into the floor. My shoulder was throbbing with every tiny movement I made. I coughed and pushed myself up, my shoulder throbbing so much that another whimper escaped my lips.

Voltaire roughly kicked my side, and it definitely broke at least one more rib. I whimpered and curled up willing the pain to leave, however the move stretched the many lashes on my back, and I instantly regretted my choice as I felt blood drip down my back. Not only this but the stab wounds in my side reopened and I felt blood drip from those to mingle with the blood on my back.

Voltaire snarled at my pitiful form before leaving the room swiftly, slamming the door behind himself.

XXX

I coughed and curled up tighter, my back becoming more painful with every passing moment, but ignoring that, staying curled in the corner meant I could see any and every thing.

I sighed and leant against the wall as I felt myself losing the battle to stay awake…..it felt like an age since I had eaten something, usually I could go on tiny amounts of food, but now my body was becoming unable to function, especially with all these injuries.

I sighed and looked around the dark room, no windows and the only dim electric light was switched off…I don't have the strength to go and find the switch I though to myself miserably. The only light coming in was that from the small dusty window on the door, and the holes above the door, presumably to let the air circulate.

I slowly closed my eyes, unable to keep myself awake any longer.

XXX

**Mr. Dickenson's POV**

I sat on the large BBA bus as the large group of teens piled in

"Next stop Kai's!!" Tyson smiled punching the air enthusiastically.

XXX

We eventually arrived at the mansion, and as usual I walked up to the large doors and knocked, waiting for the maid to open it as usual

"Hello Sir" she smiled and stepped aside for me to come in as usual

"Ah, Mr. Dickenson!" Susumu came walking down the stairs

"Susumu, how are you?" I asked, having not seen the man recently.

"I'm fine thank you, but I'm afraid Kai will be training all day today and will be unable to attend the matches. He wants to be ready for the finals and is working on some new moves."

"Oh I see, well, is he training now?" I asked

"Yes I'm afraid so, was there something wrong?" Susumu asked, presumably hearing the tone of voice I used.

"No, it's just I think the team had planned for him to play a match but Max can always take his place" Susumu nodded and smiled

"I'm sure Max will be a perfect substitute" Susumu replied, I nodded and smiled

"Well, I'm sure you have plenty of work to be getting on with and I should get to the stadium" Susumu nodded in response

"Yes I do. I hope all the matches go in your favor today Stanley" he smiled and left, leaving the maid to show me out

"Thank you" she smiled sweetly and closed the wooden door behind me

I could just make out the confused faces of the teens on the coach, and sure enough as soon as I stepped onto the vehicle, I was bombarded with questions

"Where's Kai?"

"Is everything ok?"

"What's going on?"

I chuckled

"Kai's training today; he wants to be prepared for the finals, so he's working on a new move" Most of the teens nodded and smiled. I smiled at the group and sat down as the coach began moving.

**Tala's POV**

I looked curiously as Mr. Dickenson left the mansion, without a certain young Russian dual haired blader

He explained that Kai was training today, and nearly all the teens relaxed, however I shot an uneasy glance at Bryan, then Spencer. Something was definitely wrong. Very wrong.

XXX

**Kai's POV**

I groaned and opened my eyes slowly, focusing on the walls of the dark room slowly. I moved my head and the slight movement cause my shoulder to send a sharp pain down my back and up my neck, and my head to throb. I tried to shift, but found that even the tiniest movement was a task. I must have lost a lot of blood last night, mixed with the lack of food and water….what if I die down here?

I sat thinking miserably, my back still damp from the blood, my side still coated in the red liquid. The pain in my knee had calmed to a dull throb, but the rest of my body was aching so strongly that it was impossible to think of anything but how much it hurt.

Eventually the door opened, Susumu stood at the door, with a maid close behind

"Get up" he snarled at me angrily. I tried to shift myself but knew that I wouldn't be able to manage standing. He growled and stepped forward, in one swift movement he slapped me, then grabbed my left arm pulling me up, pain shot through my body as my shoulder moved. He dragged me, who stumbled behind him the entire way, to my room. He ordered the maid to clean me up and left.

She looked at me sadly; apparently I looked just as bad as I felt.

Slowly she began to try and clean me up, however after a few hours she gave up left me to get some sleep.

XXX

I woke up slowly, late, it was dark outside, I moved to roll over but instantly hissed in pain.

Deciding to have a shower and clean all the blood out of my hair, and attempt to clean myself up, I slowly stood up, my knee throbbing from the weight and my shoulder aching from the movement.

I wandered slowly and painfully to the bathroom, as I shut the door I noticed my reflection…I almost matched the white tiles on the wall I was so pale except for the dark red turning purple bruise on my cheek from the backhands, my tattoo's standing out even more so than before. My hair was clogged with blood and my chest was covered with bruises, I turned to look at my back, I could understand why my shoulder hurt so much, a black bruise covered my entire shoulder blade, it was probably pretty mucked up underneath the bruise, fractured, shattered, I didn't want to think about it.

I cringed as I looked at all the welts on my back, which was covered in the angry red marks and blood, the stab wounds were still bleeding, and I felt faint…I leant against the wall and gently took my trousers off, my knee was a total mess, the knee cap must be fractured as well…I sighed and felt my vision begin to darken…I crawled into the shower and tried to gently wash the blood off my back and side, then got all the red liquid out of my hair. I climbed back out of the shower and limped to my room, finding clean clothes to sleep in for a bit longer. I was sure that I'd be going to the stadium tomorrow…

XXX

I woke up to sunlight streaming in through the slightly open curtains; I sighed and sat up hissing in pain again…The maid came in moments later and handed me clean clothes before leaving me to sort myself out. I pulled the clothes on slowly, trying to minimize the pain…eventually when I was dressed the maid returned to do my makeup. She said nothing to me while she worked, clearly she didn't know what she could say that would make it better.

"They're here" she sighed as she looked out the window "are you going to be ok?" she looked at me, I shook my head, she'd bandaged up my sides to stop the stab wounds from bleeding, but there was clearly some nasty internal damage…

She looked at me in pity before helping me to the entrance hall

"Hello Mr. Dickenson" she greeted and allowed the chairman inside

"Kai!" he smiled "did you enjoy you're training yesterday?" he asked with a clueless smile…I saw Susumu walking towards and nodded

"Yes" I replied, shortly but not rudely.

"Wonderful, shall we?" he indicated towards the bus, again I nodded

"See you later Kai" Susumu smiled as I followed Mr. Dickenson, trying not to wince or whimper with every step.

By the time we reached the bus I was close enough to passing out…however as I sat down I felt myself regaining some control.

"Morning Kai!" Max smiled along with almost every other occupant of the coach, I noticed Tala, Bryan and Spencer watching me closely

I nodded to the rest of the teens and said nothing more.

As we arrived at the stadium we began walking to the locker room, I fell back, the demolition boys hung behind to keep near me. As we arrived at leant against the wall, and watched the conversations between the various teens.

XXX

The day just seemed to drag on, I took a glance up at the clock, it was only 1pm, and we still had at least another 3 hours here. Why I needed to be here I wasn't quite sure…I mean, the bladebreakers have no matches today, so it really is pointless us being here.

I hissed as I shifted around on the bench, my knee and shoulder both throbbing painfully, not to mention my head with the just as painful. I sighed and looked at the tiled floor… this was going to be a long afternoon

XXX

Eventually the matches were over and we began to walk to the BBA coach.

As we sat down, Mr. Dickenson looked at me "did you want to stay at the hotel tonight Kai?" I looked at him for a few minutes

"Thank you but I'll stay at home tonight" I was prepared to leave it at that but the teen's questioning gazes meant I needed an excuse and fast. "I'm helping Susumu with some work tonight" I lied, although everyone seemed to buy it…or they were very good at acting.

I looked out the window for the most part of the journey, ignoring the teens loud conversations.

Eventually we pulled up outside the mansion; I walked down and off the bus slowly, trying to mask my pain. "See you tomorrow then Kai" Max smiled and waved, I didn't reply.

I walked up the path slowly, I daren't look back to see if the other's were watching me, and I daren't speed up, because I had finally hit my breaking point, much more and I could easily pass out. I glanced up and could see Susumu grinning down at me from his office window, and lurking behind him, I could make out the shape of another person… Voltaire.

The large wooden door were opened for me as I approached the steps, the maid waited patiently as I slowly walked up the steps, and she closed the door quietly

"They're waiting for me" I stated, in way of telling her that she didn't need to be quiet.

She looked at me sadly "Kai…" she paused "You look so ill." I nodded and sighed "I wish they'd let me take you to a hospital. But there's no explanation for your injuries other than … abuse. The only place I can take you is the Biovolt hospital wing at the Abbey. That's always an open option for you Kai" I shook my head, a little too violently and swayed, nearly losing my balance.

"I can't go back there" I whispered as Susumu walked down the stairs, followed by Voltaire.

He grinned evilly and I cringed away from his gaze

"Can't he have the evening off?" the maid at my side pleaded, I widened my eyes in shock, she had made things so much worse without even realizing, for me, and possibly herself, my only friend inside this hell-hole

"No, you insolent fool!" he backhanded her roughly, sending her crashing to the floor. I crouched down by her and helped her up, and the glare I was receiving from my father was nothing short of hell.

I pulled her to her feet, ignoring the pain I was in as best as I could.

"Deal with her" Voltaire snarled at Susumu "I'll deal with my grandson" he grinned evilly, he grabbed my write pulling me back to the dark room from the night before

He chained my hands and feet again, and unhooked a long whip from the wall. Before I had time to react the whip crashed into my back, over and over, tearing my shirt, tearing my skin, blood poured down my back, soaking my trousers.

Voltaire grabbed me and spun me round to face him, my eyes filled with tears from the pain, and without warning, Voltaire's knee roughly thumped into my stomach, stretching my stab wounds, causing them to re-open. I hissed as I fell to my knees, crushing my already damaged knee into the stone floor.

My vision was dark, I couldn't see anything, I could just hear Voltaire walking somewhere in the room, I felt so tired…I fell to the floor and lay listening to Voltaire, suddenly pain flared up my arm as a snap echoed in the room as Voltaire crushed his heavy boot down on to my wrist. I felt the bones snapping as he continued to put pressure on my wrist.

XXX

I groaned, gently moving my head, I was still down in the dark cellar of the mansion, my body was aching so much, my back stung from lying on the cold stone floor. My side was aching, the broken ribs were giving me serious grief now and my stab wounds were even more tender and sore. My entire arm had gone numb from my wrist and I couldn't move it if I tried. I pushed myself onto my elbows with serious difficulty and coughed, so violently that I fell back down shaking from the cold…I hadn't even realized it was that cold down here until now.

After much effort I managed to get myself into a sitting position and leant against the wall. I shuddered, it probably didn't help my trousers were soaked with blood which had gone cold, but also that my t-shirt was in tatters and therefore wasn't even wearable let alone something to keep me warm. I wrapped my arm loosely round my chest and pulled my knees up in an attempt to conserve some body heat. But I felt so tried, so weak, that it probably wouldn't help. My other arm hung limply at my side, the pain to move it was far too much, a tiny movement sent white hot pain flaring up my arm.

After a few hours or so, a new maid slowly walked into the dark cell. She looked at me with pity in her eyes, but said nothing. She handed me a bit of bread, a glass of water, and left without a word.

What had happened to my friend??

I slowly ate the bread, making it last for as long as I could. Then gently sipped the water. I needed to save these few items as long as possible, who knows how long it could be until I got any more. After a long spell of trying to keep myself awake, I finally gave in to getting some more rest…

XXX

**Max's POV**

We all hung round the lobby, waiting for the BBA bus to pick us up. Eventually the large coach pulled up and within minutes we were already leaving

"Good morning everybody" Mr. Dickenson smiled.

"Morning Mr. D!" Tyson smiled enthusiastically

"I hope you all slept well" Mr. Dickenson began "Kai won't be joining us again today, Susumu still has work which Kai will be helping with"

"Ok, well, we don't have matches today so it's fine" Tyson grinned at me with a thumbs-up; I laughed at his stupidity and watched out the window…

Eventually we arrived at the stadium and the days battles began as per usual….another long day at the stadium for us…

XXX

**Kai's POV**

I must've spent more than an entire day down here, I thought to myself miserably and I tried to shift myself to a more comfortable position. No one had been down since whenever it was that the new maid came into give me that food. I sighed and silently wished there was at least a window so I could see if it was day or night.

Regardless of how much sleep I got down here, uncomfortable as it was, I was still tired. Presumably from my current … condition.

I sighed and quietly hummed a tune to myself…waiting for someone to come and get me out of here.

XXX

I woke up however much later, the room had dropped to an even cooler temperature, and it felt to be getting colder. I shivered and curled up stretching my back in the process. The chains that connected my wrists and feet rattled with the movement and the pain in my wrist flared to life again as the shackles aggravated the break, or breaks.

I remained curled up for hours, or at least it felt that way…how long were they going to leave me here?!

XXX

**Ray's POV**

Day's had passed, Kai had been training, helping Susumu and he'd been away with Susumu on a business trip…. It was nearing the finals of the tournament….and we still hadn't seen him…

"I wonder if Kai'll show up today." Tyson grumbled, everyone, including myself was getting annoyed with our captains lack of interest in our team.

"Probably not" Lee snarled. I looked over the entire group, everyone had apparently gotten very annoyed over the matter

"I'm sure he has a good enough excuse" I defended him

"He's deserting his team!" Tala growled angrily, having been on the receiving end of Kai's indecisive team switching before.

I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to help the situation by arguing.

**Kai's POV**

I looked hazily round the room; I hadn't slept for what felt like an age… I cringed wondering how long I'd been left in what felt like solitary confinement. I leant against the wall heavily and sighed and closed my eyes. Everything still ached as much as if the wounds were put there just moments ago… I could hardly move, not more than a few feet…

XXX

**Ray's POV**

The day was beginning to come to a close, everyone was angry, including me, Mr. Dickenson had been informed by Susumu, that Kai wouldn't be attending the finals. Leaving us in the shit.

"I can't BELIEVE he's not gunna be at the finals!" Tyson grumbled loudly as we all climbed on to the coach

"He didn't even give a reason!" Max grumbled, albeit less angrily than Tyson

I sighed and sat down, how could Kai do this to us?

XXX

**Kai's POV**

I stared blankly into the darkness, everything aching at the slightest movement. I sighed, why hadn't my friends come to find me? It must have been days since they last saw me and not one had turned up at the mansion…how do I know? I haven't had Voltaire or Susumu come down and beat the shit out of me for it yet.

I sighed and continued to stare blankly ahead of myself….this is just like the Abbey. Except, there's no Tala, no Spencer and no Bryan. I sighed and shifted ever so slightly on the spot

**Ray's POV**

Eventually the bus pulled up outside the hotel and we all piled into the lobby and up to the demolition boy's room.

"I can't believe him!" Tyson grumbled as soon as the door was shut

"It's irresponsible above everything" Kenny added

"He doesn't value his team" Lee snarled

"Listen!" Tala interrupted "I'm sure he has a perfectly valid reason for not being here"

The teens all stared at him "Then why hasn't he told us his perfectly valid excuse?!" Tyson retorted

"Listen to me, Kai is the most trustworthy person I know. Once he's made his choice he sticks to it. He's chosen your team and therefore I have every confidence that he will pull through when you need him." Bryan spoke honestly. The group looked amongst each other and muttered to themselves.

"If you're really that bothered then go to the mansion" Johnny said shortly

"Yeah!" Max jumped up, his eyes lighting up

XXX

It was just minutes later that we were racing the familiar route to the Hiwatari mansion.

We finally skidded to a halt outside the large building, it was mid-evening now. The sky was beginning to get darker, so you would imagine there would be some lights on….but no. The house was pitch black

We walked up the large driveway and knocked on the main door. No reply.

"Let's go" Tyson mumbled. We all turned around and began to make our way back, when the door behind us opened with a loud creak.

I spun round; a young maid was standing at the door. Not the same one we've seen come outside to collect Kai before. She smiled softly "Can I help?"

"Uh. Yeah, we're looking for Kai" Tyson smiled back, her smiled faded

"Come inside" She stepped aside, allowing us all inside.

From the moment I stepped inside the house, I had a bad feeling about this…

**Ok yes, sorry it's taken SO long to upload this, but I've had loads of coursework etc** **so I've been busy with that. But this is it, fairly long chapter I think.**

Don't forget to review

**xflightofthephoenix**


	6. An unexpected change

**Ray's POV**

I looked around the large entrance hall of the house, it was very impressive. Something, you would expect Kai's family to own.

The maid shuffled nervously, fiddling with the hem of her apron

"Is everything ok?" Kenny asked, moving his glasses with his hand that wasn't clutching dizzi.

"I'm so glad you're here" she looked at us all with a smile of relief and dropped the edge of her apron and clasped her hands together

"Why?" Tala asked suspiciously.

"You need to get Kai out of here" she started speaking faster and in a slightly higher pitch.

"What? Why?" Max asked, begin to panic at her voice

"You must understand that he isn't safe here" she continued to speak

"But you can't take him now" she said

"Why not?" Tala asked, his anger beginning to show in his voice

"Because there are cameras. You have to leave, for now. I leave here each night at 8pm, that's only and hour or so away. Once I've gone, you can come back." I looked at her questioningly

"Cameras? Surely we should go with Kai now before Susumu knows we're here?" I asked

"No! He's not here, but he is almost certainly watching this on the security cameras" She explained glancing round the room, and again picking up the hem of her apron.

"I'll make it look like I'm turning you away. That way the chances of him coming back tonight are slim" I nodded. This was a far deeper issue than we had originally comprehended

"You'll need to go up the stairs, and turn right, go through the door and into the corridor, along there is another door which leads down into the cellar. Once there, go right to the end up to the last door on the right, which is where you'll find Kai" I nodded taking all the information in.

"Now, you must go!" she ushered us out of the house, clearly only acting for the camera's sake "Good luck" she whispered as she closed the door behind us.

We moped down the drive and wandered back to the hotel for the short time we would be here for.

"I'm really worried. She sounded serious!" Max looked around the room with wide eyes

"Well I guess we'll find out in just one hour" Tala sighed and leant against the wall thinking.

"Should we call the police?" Lee asked

"Definitely not. Not until we've spoken to Kai" Tala replied "Things could get far worse if we don't talk to him first" I nodded, Tala knew exactly what he was doing.

"I guess we just wait now" Tyson sighed and flopped on the sofa his cap falling off in the process

XXX

**Kai's POV**

I pushed myself to lean against the wall, and coughed, my entire body shook from the cold.

Was I meant to die down here? Am I holding on for no reason??

I sighed and coughed again. Closing my eyes and gently drifting into a light sleep

XXX

**Ray's POV**

We stood at the end of the drive….true to her word the maid had left, all the lights were off.

We ran up the drive. The door was ajar, I pushed open the large wooden door, looking around the now pitch black mansion.

"We've gotta be quick" Tala shot past me and ran up the stairs, we all ran after him, as quietly as we could, the only light was that from the moon, shining through the large windows all around.

Tala pulled the door open and we came face to face with, Susumu.

"Can I help?" he asked politely

"Where's Kai?!" Tala snapped at the older man

"Kai's working at the moment. Shall I tell him you visited?" Susumu smiled

"No, we'll tell him ourselves" Tala snarled

"I'm afraid Kai is far too busy to waste time with you" he glanced across the group "Now, I'll ask you to leave nicely and we shan't tell Stanley about this, or you can be stubborn and I'll give him a phone call to come and pick you up…which would you prefer?"

Tala glanced back at Spencer and sighed, walking towards the door. "Let's go" Tala sighed as the group followed. I trailed at the back of the teens, as I closed the door, I took one last glance inside, Susumu had a wide smirk spread across his face. I shut the door.

"He's up to something. Kai MUST still be in there" I turned to face everyone, the looked at me, Tala nodded

"Yeah, I agree. But we can't just sneak in a find him, evidently" we continued to walk until we found ourselves back at the hotel…

"We're gunna turn in early. See you tomorrow" Tala turned with the other demolition boys and walked into their hotel room. Closing the door quietly behind them

I would have gone to talk to them about it, which is what they'd do, but I decided it would be best to let them figure this out. Something was seriously wrong, but on the off chance that Kai genuinely did have work to do we couldn't just turn up again and risk getting into trouble with Mr. Dickenson and the other adults.

Eventually all of the teams left for their own rooms, us bladebreakers were sat around ours.

"I'm worried. Why don't we just tell Mr. Dickenson or the police?" Kenny asked

"Because" I began "if Kai is really just working, then can you imagine how things would happen if we got Mr. Dickenson, or indeed the police involved? Kai would be gone. Either, Susumu would cut off all ties with us, or Kai himself would. And we can't afford to lose Kai. He's our friend" I sighed

"Yeah. But we can't just sit here…can we?" Max asked.

"We can't just leave Kai!" Tyson protested

"For now we'll have to" I sighed and leant back in my chair…..

"Let's get some rest. It is the finals soon and we need to be in top shape to face the demolition boys"

It's the finals in just a few days, but it feels like such an insignificant thing to us now.

The group slowly drifted off to sleep one by one, I was the last awake. I stared up at the ceiling, wondering what Kai is doing.

XXX

Days passed, with no word from Susumu, Kai no-one. I looked around, the tournament had been and gone, the Bladebreakers were once again the champions. I sighed, the trophy was to be given to us (again) later today, and there was going to be no Kai there.

It was like he had just vanished….Susumu could have done anything with him, sent him to Japan? Hidden him elsewhere in Russia? He could be anywhere, America?

I rolled over in my bed….it was only 7am….we had at least 6 hours till the trophy was presented…I looked out the window, the sun was beginning to come up, casting a morning glow over the sky. I looked round the dim room, everyone was asleep, I decided to talk to the demolition boys

I slowly got up and pulled on some decent clothes, and crept out of our room. I walked across the corridor and knocked on the demolition boys, their quiet chatter stopped as soon as I knocked. Tala pulled the door open slightly and smiled seeing me, "perfect" he smiled and pulled the door open wider

"Hi" I smiled at each individual

"It's great you're here" Tala smiled "We need to talk about later"

"Right" I nodded and sat down

"We're hoping that Kai will at least be there later. So, we can at least see him and see what state he's in. Now, if he's there, we're going to need your help, Susumu probably won't let him out of his sight if he's a mess. So we need to distract him so we can talk to Kai. Understood?" I nodded in reply, the demolition boys clearly suspected Kai to be a horrific mess. "Right, now you should get some more sleep" I nodded and wandered back to our room, but I wasn't going to sleep. I picked up a large, thick coat and sat on the balcony looking at the snow covered houses and other buildings.

I sighed and glanced over my shoulder as the door slid open behind me, someone stepped out into the chilly morning air.

"Morning Ray" Max smiled as he swept the snow off the char next to me.

"Morning Max" I replied with a smile

"You thinking about Kai?" he asked, I nodded. "I'm worried Ray" he looked at me and sat down "I really think something's happened to him" I nodded

"I know what you mean Max" I looked at him and smiled sympathetically "But Kai's tough, I'm sure whatever mess he's gotten into he'll be just fine."

"Come on the others are waking up" I smiled as Max jumped up to greet Tyson.

This would be a long day. And hopefully a productive one.

XXX

Eventually we arrived at the stadium for the trophy hand-over. Tala gave me a serious look as we got off the bus, reminding me of my role.

We walked into the stadium and looked around, no Kai.

"How long till the hand over?" I asked Kenny

"About 10 minutes" he replied

XXX

I walked up to the platform to receive the trophy, I looked around the crowd, sitting next to Mr. Dickenson was Susumu….but no Kai. Tala had noticed as well. I glanced at Tala, who gave me a quick look and then continued to watch Susumu. I scanned the crowd quickly, but there was no sign of Kai.

XXX

As we climbed on to the bus Susumu sped away

"Where's he going in such a hurry?" Tyson asked Max, not realizing Mr. Dickenson stood behind

"He's heading back to the mansion to see Kai off" Mr. Dickenson replied awkwardly

"See him off?" Tyson looked at him blankly

"Yes, Kai's is going back to Japan for a while, he'll still be there when you arrive, and Susumu has assured me that you will get your chance to see him, his work is nearly over" Mr. Dickenson smiled as Max's face lit up

"Really?!" He grinned his cheeky grin…if Susumu had promised we could see him then surely Kai was just fine…Tala however looked like he had other ideas…

**Kai's POV**

I opened my eyes slowly as I heard something quiet, from outside my cell…room…basement, whatever I felt like calling it…I allowed my eyes to slide shut wondering numbly how long I'd been stuck here….it must have been over a week now…but the days seemed to blend into one, I couldn't tell one day from the next, night from day, light from dark…

Suddenly the door swung open and two large men walked inside…The pulled me up by my arms, My shoulder flared to life again, sending white hot stabs of pain right down my arm and up my neck, a pain that I had nearly forgotten, due to be still for so long. My knee began to throb as soon as my leg stretched; it ached strongly as it connected with the floor…I hissed all the breath in my lungs out. My head began to spin as the pain became more and more dominant in my mind, I allowed my head to flop, which in turn, sent white hot flares of pain from my shoulder up my neck and down my back, I hissed again and pulled my head back up. As the guards hoisted me higher, and into a better grip I assume, my wrist, which had remained a strong ache, had suddenly began to sting, the pain was almost unbearable, the tiniest attempt at moving my fingers sent searing pain straight up my arm. I hadn't looked at the mess my wrist was in, but I knew just from how much it hurt that I was in some serious need of medical help…my back began to sting as the pulled me up the stairs and out of the cellar, the deep stab wounds in my side protesting at the pressure placed on them.

I hissed again and I heard the guard faintly speak as I became less and less aware of my surroundings

"How can someone do this to their own grandson?" he whispered

"He's heartless" the other replied, I felt my vision fade to black and slowly I felt myself fall into numbness

How long had passed I wasn't sure, but soon I found myself being sat in a car, none to gently. I looked out the window, dazed and confused. Where were we going?

"Poor kid" I heard one of the guards speak again, I wasn't sure which one, but did it really matter?

XXX

**Tyson's POV**

Day's had passed, it ha been almost 4 days since we'd talked to anyone from the BBA, we were shocked to find a message when we returned from training

I looked at Ray as he played the voicemail message; Mr. Dickenson had asked the entire group of bladers to come to his office this afternoon, matter of emergency.

"What do you thinks' wrong?" Ray asked, fear broke through his usual confident composure.

"Let's go now and find out" Lee suggested, not hesitating to run out the front door

XXX

We arrived at Mr. Dickenson's temporary office at the Russian BBA centre moments later

"We need to see Mr. Dickenson straight away!" Tala spoke. She sprang to life, pulling her telephone closer to her and calling Mr. Dickenson, she spoke quickly and quietly

"Go straight up" she said quietly

We knocked on the door and Mr. Dickenson pulled the door open straight after.

"Ah, come in" he didn't smile, nor look at us in the eye, Judy and my dad were stood silently at the back of the office, with sympathetic looks

"What's up Mr. D?" Tyson asked

"I don't know how to break this to you." He took in a large breath and let it out slowly "Kai's been in a terrible car accident." I let my mouth fall open "He didn't make it I'm afraid." He looked down, his eyes filled with tears

"What happened?" Max spoke in a hushed voice, a tear slipping down his cheek.

"The car was driving quite fast, so Kai didn't miss his plane, there was some ice on the road, and the driver lost control of the car. It crashed into an off-license, due to the alcohol, the shop quickly burst into flames, including the car" Mr. Dickenson wiped the tear from his cheek

"I can't believe it" I choked, Kai, the invincible Kai…dead? Our Kai was gone. I let a sob tear from my throat.

Max ran to Judy who held him as he silently sobbed…even Tala was close to tears. I felt more tears pour down my cheeks as my dad walked over and pulled me into a tight hug

"I'm so sorry son" he whispered in my ear

XXX

Hours passed and eventually we arrived back at the hotel. We all decided to go straight to our rooms, not wishing to speak. That was fine with me, it gave me time to think

'Kai's gone' I thought miserably 'our indestructible Kai, killed in a car crash…he deserved more' I let a tear roll down my cheek ' I can almost hear him telling me to grow up' I smiled feebly at the thought, I lay in silence, listening to the sound of cars driving past the hotel 'I never did tell him how much he meant to us, as a team and to me as a person. I don't think I'll ever meet someone as determined as he was. I never told him that, after everything, he was still our friend, our teammate and the best captain that ever was and ever will be' I felt more tears flowing down my cheek ' and he could have gone through anything over the past few weeks, and we had no idea, we hadn't even seen him' I let a quiet sob fill the silent room…

Someone crept over, Max. he sat on the edge of my bed, and suddenly, but not unexpectedly burst into tears of his own. I put my arm gently round his shoulders

"I miss him" Max wailed loudly

I smiled sadly; "I know Max, I know, we all do" I looked up at Ray and Kenny who had come into the room

"I never told him that I trusted him!" Max wailed louder "I never told him what a brilliant friend he was, how much he meant to us all" he cried onto my shoulder for a few minutes

"You can tell him at the funeral Max, he'll hear you" Max nodded silently, his eyes glistening with unshed tears, which I knew we'd be here to witness for a long time

Ray held the most composure throughout the night, Kenny had his own breakdown with Max at just gone 2am, I listened to Max go round in circles all night, wailing that he hadn't told Kai how much of a friend he was, and how much he was trusted by us all…I cried for a lot of the night as well…it was going to be a huge task to get past this.

XXX

**Bryan's POV**

I listen to Tala silently, as best as he could, sob. I crawled over to his bed

"I'm sure Kai was fighting till the last minute" I tried to comfort him, it wasn't easy for me.

"I can't believe Susumu was so obsessed with getting him away from us where he could beat him back into the machine Kai once was, that he would kill him in the process" I listened, my own eyes stinging with tears.

"Kai was so tough" Tala continued "and he didn't DESERVE to die Bry!!" His voice broke and he sobbed loudly. I felt a pang of hurt in my heart and soon the tears were silently rolling down my cheeks, Spencer, who was sat in the background was also crying, I could hear him.

XXX

**Lee's POV**

Mariah cried quietly into her pillow, I crept over to her

"You hardly knew him" I reminded her softly "No need to get too wound up" I gently hugged her

She looked at me with huge glistening eyes "But that's the problem Lee! I never even made the effort to get to know him!" she sobbed louder and I hugged her closer

"He never got to know you either" I reminded her

"But I bet he knew more about me than I did about him, Lee, I feel terrible! He was always so closed off" she sobbed and carried on "and there must have been a reason for that, and I never even bothered to tell him I was always here for him to talk to" she sobbed louder, Kevin watched from his bed, he was upset, but not to the extent Mariah was, he didn't feel as attached to anyone but his white tigers as Mariah did with everyone…

XXX

**Ray's POV**

As we walked into the lobby in the morning, everyone was already waiting, nearly everyone was puffy eyed and looked tired. No one more than Tala, but everyone had more sense than to point that out…the funeral was only 24 hours away…

"Morning" Tyson said quietly "I think we can give training a miss today?" he asked in the same quiet, dull tone

The group nodded in agreement, we decided instead to go for a walk, to go to the places Kai went, and liked.

All too soon the day ended, and we all went to bed, dreading the funeral tomorrow…

**Another chapter finished. Bet you didn't expect that. Poor Kai! I felt so mean killing him off :(**

**Let me know what you think :) - sorry it's not as long as i would normally like, or have posted, but i thought i should leave the funeral to the next chapter**

**xflightofthephoenix**


	7. The Funeral

**Ray's POV**

I looked over the group of us, stood in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for the limo to pick us up for the funeral. I could hear max quietly crying behind me, Tala had pulled on a brave face, for that I was thankful.

Everyone knew Tala had dealt with this the worst, but then, Tala and Kai were best friends since childhood…losing Kai was like me losing Mariah or Lee…I didn't even want to imagine that. He caught my eye and smiled a small, weak smile…I gave my own in return.

Mr. Dickenson walked into the lobby a few silent moments later. He looked over the group solemnly "morning" he smiled softly "Let's go, the limo's outside" he turned and walked to the limo; we all followed and climbed into the black car in silence.

As we drove I watched everyone carefully…everyone had made the effort today, even the Allstars, who were openly Kai's worst friends. Tyson had even taken off his trademark baseball cap for the day. Everyone wore black suits, white shirts and black ties, the girls wore black dresses. I sighed and stared out the dark windows…The coffin was nailed shut, no one wanted to see the mess Kai had been left in from the crash, well the mess what was left of him was in.

Eventually the limo came to a halt outside the church…we all climbed out in silence, no one had spoken since we left the hotel. Then, the limo left and the hearse came round the corner, Kai's coffin inside. Mr. Dickenson must have organized the few flowers around the oak coffin.

Susumu and some distant relatives of Kai carried the coffin; we all followed in silence into the church.

XXX

Tala slowly and shakily stepped up to the front of the room. He didn't have a speech prepared, unless he had memorized it.

"Kai, was not only the best blader there ever was, or ever will be…he was also my best friend and has been since before I can remember" he began, his voice breaking, he took a deep breath and carried on "He's always been with me through thick and thin. He was the most trustworthy person I've ever met" he looked over to the coffin and sighed "and he didn't deserve to die" his eyes swept the audience "He'll never be forgotten" he stepped down to his seat just as the tears began to roll down his cheeks. His speech was short, but no one could've expected much more before he got too emotional

Susumu walked up to the front straight after, again with no speech "I didn't get the chance to spend much time with my son" he began "but the short time I did was without a shadow of a doubt the best time of my life" he glanced across the people watching with a sad expression "he was taken before his time…but he lived life to the full" he looked over to the coffin and sighed "rest in peace" he said quietly and returned to his seat, looking down at his lap so no one could see his face. Mr. Dickenson then took his spot at the front and bean to speak;

"When I met Kai, he was 12…" he glanced at the coffin "and he was, undoubtedly the most difficult child I've ever met" he smiled sadly "however, against everything I may have believed, he proved himself to be the most passionate blader, and the most loyal friend." He again glanced at the coffin "he was someone we could all rely on to watch our backs when we needed him." He sighed "words aren't enough" he left the front and sat back down, wiping his eyes with a handkerchief.

Slowly everyone filed outside as the coffin was carried, and lowered into the ground, and then covered.

XXX

We watched Tala from a distance, he knelt by his best friends grave, and stared at the flowers covering it. Even from here, I could see the tears rolling down his pale cheeks. I stayed well away, Tala needed longer to say goodbye…he was far more attached to Kai than any of us.

XXX

We arrived back at the hotel for the evening, we all accumulated in our room, every team was here and Mr. Dickenson had joined us as well…Kenny had arranged for food to be brought into our room by room service. Everyone put some food on their plates purely out of politeness, however, only a few people (Tyson naturally) ate anything.

The room fell silent; the only noises were the cars passing on the roads below.

"How long are we staying here for?" Max asked quietly

"Only until the end of the week" Mr. Dickenson replied "then all of you will be returning to Japan"

Max nodded solemnly, after we left, we wouldn't even be able to visit Kai's grave. Tala was staring unblinkingly at the coffee table, and slowly he stood up "I'm going to see Kai" he mumbled quietly, his voice quietly cracked.

No one stopped him, not even Mr. Dickenson tried to persuade him to wait till morning.

XXX

We must've stayed in the hotel room for hours, Mr. Dickenson left at 10pm and Tala returned at just passed 11.30, he seemed to have composed himself somewhat.

"Let's get some sleep" he began looking across the room "We've got training to do tomorrow" he turned to leave when Tyson spoke

"But…" he began until Tala cut him short

"Kai would've had us training, so that's what we'll do" he snarled almost viciously and left, everyone followed to their own rooms, not daring to disagree

XXX

"He's a mess" Tyson stated plainly as we sat on our beds

"Well what did you expect?" Kenny countered

"I suppose" Tyson sighed

"Don't make this harder guys, Tala's trying his best, we should be supporting him" I said as I stared out the window "Let's get some rest, Tala's gunna have us training to Kai's standards tomorrow"

Kenny flicked out the light and after a few minutes of Tyson clumsily sorting his bed out, tripping over his own belongings and swearing, the room fell silent. Max giggled after the silence fell, and Tyson snorted a laugh but after that it was truly silent as everyone fell asleep

I sighed and rolled over to look out the window at the sky, the stars were bright tonight, and so was the moon. I wondered if Kai had seen the sky properly since he vanished…and before he died… I knew he loved to see the night sky.

I eventually fell into a light dreamless sleep…

XXX

I woke with a start as Tyson fell out of bed with a loud thump. He coughed and spluttered mid-snore at the sudden and harsh contact with the rough carpet.

"Wha?" he asked sleepily and looked around, Max started laughing at his expression and I smiled at the pair.

"Let's get up, training in under an hour" I suggested dragging myself from my warm bed and into the cooler air of the hotel room. I looked out the large window; it had snowed more last night, covering the previously flattened snow with a new layer.

We quickly got dressed and went down to the dining hall

We sat near the window and waited for the other teams to turn up, moments after we sat down the demolition boys followed in.

"Morning guys" I smiled, Tala was the only one to do the same

"What's the plan for training then?" Tyson asked

"You'll find out when we get started Tyson" Tala smiled

XXX

XXXX

XXXXX

XXXXXX

Weeks passed, we had all returned to Japan. Things weren't the same without Kai still. But we had all adjusted, even Tala seemed back to normal, just about.

"Lunch time dudes!" Grandpa Granger called from the dojo.

Since we were back everyone pretty much lived at Tyson's dojo…not that any of the Granger family minded, in fact it appeared they enjoyed the company.

"Woohoo!" Tyson sprinted into the dojo followed closely by the others…I hung back thinking. Everyone had just about moved on, no one mentioned Kai anymore…his name was a taboo inside the dojo and no one would dare speak of him to anyone else. It felt as if we were somehow forgetting him, although I think we all thought about him when we got half a chance.

It wasn't quite the same now though, obviously we didn't have a captain when we left Russia and the team decided it would be me that had to take his place, which I wasn't thrilled about. I couldn't ever dream of being half the captain Kai was, I preferred not to be called the captain, so I was just the trainer, in my eyes anyway. I couldn't bear the thought of taking his place.

I trudged into the house and sat with the others eating lunch, I began to think of a new training schedule, how I could help the others improve…and I didn't feel as hungry as I would've liked. Now maybe I could understand why Kai hardly ate…stress maybe from trying to figure out ways to help the team…

"You not hungry dude?" Tyson asked me, I shook my head

"Trying to think up the next training plan for the rest of the day and tomorrow" I replied shortly.

"I see" Tyson said shoving a sandwich in his mouth, just as the phone rang

"I'll get it" Bruce called from the other room, and the ringing abruptly stopped.

"Hello?" we heard him ask, but couldn't hear what followed

Moments later, he walked into the room with a smile on his face

"Turns out there's going to be a tournament here in Japan in just a weeks time!" he smiled at all of us "Mr. Dickenson has put your names down for it already, I assume that's all ok?" he asked, receiving yes's and nods from us all

It's the first tournament without Kai I thought to myself miserably. I think everyone else had the same thought, because suddenly the room fell quiet, Bruce shuffled his feet then left us to our thoughts…

"Come on. Let's get to work for this tournament" I suggested as optimistically as I could manage, Tyson nodded and our team left the room, leaving the others behind.

"Gosh" Max stopped "it's the first tournament with no Kai. It just won't be the same" I nodded, a little shocked that Max actually spoke about it. "Who's going to uhh…fill in the gap in the team?" he looked nervously round the group "not that I want to 'replace' Kai, but don't we need a fourth blader to qualify?" I thought about it for a second.

"We do. You're right Max" I began "Kenny" I looked at the brunette "you could be a named blader for the team couldn't you?" Kenny shook a bit

"But I can't blade! I'll let the team down!" he whined

"You don't have to blade" I began "we just need a fourth bladers name to go on the list, no one said you actually had to play" I grinned. Kenny smiled

"Alright then!" he grinned back "I'll send Mr. Dickenson an e-mail and tell him" he ran and sat in the shade and began to type rapidly on the keys of his trusty laptop.

"Let's go then" I smiled softly at the group, this was going to be a difficult tournament, that's for sure.

XXX

The day dragged on, Kenny spent all afternoon tapping away on his laptop, I stopped training for a bit and let Max and Tyson battle each other.

I sat down next to Kenny and smiled, "What you doing Chief?" I asked

"I'm looking at all Kai's old stats and battle recordings" he said sadly "I can't bring myself to delete them"

"I wouldn't let you!" his bitbeast Dizzi argued smugly

"Of course" I sighed

"I wonder what happened to Kai's Dranzer?" Kenny wondered quietly to himself

"No one found it in the remains of the car or the shop" I said quietly "Maybe Kai didn't have it with him? Or it could've be in the other car with the luggage, Susumu said there were two cars"

"Yeah, I expect Kai was keeping her safe in his suitcase" Kenny smiled "Though, it would've been nice to have her with us wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, but come on Chief, Kai would've hated to see us moping, when exactly is the tournament?" I asked

"On Wednesday so that gives us about 5 days, it all depends on when one of us has to represent our team in the preliminaries. They're going on for a few days I think, this tournament is huge because any amateur beyblader can enter with his team. So it'll take a while to get it down to the best" Kenny explained pulling up a screen explaining how it would work

"So…someone from each team is selected, and then they're split into smaller groups and it's an 'every man for himself' battle" I mulled it over in my head

"Who do you think will be our best bet?" Kenny looked at me as he spoke, his glasses flashing in the sunlight

"I would think either me or Max" I replied, Kenny looked at me questioningly

"Why not Tyson?" I smiled and began to answer

"Tyson is without a doubt our strongest blader, if we were to put him into the preliminaries then the other teams would all know his strategies. I mean no offense, but Tyson can't change his style when the situation calls for it, I can, and Max has a completely different blading style to both myself and Tyson" I explained "So my theory is that I'll blade with a temporary style, which I'll work on over the next few days, I'll work on a few in case the situation calls for it." Kenny nodded

"That's an excellent strategy, exactly what Kai would've suggested I think" Kenny smiled widely

"Yeah" I agreed "This is exactly what Kai would've done, although he was by far the best he wouldn't take the chance to blade away from any of us" I smiled and thought of the way Kai would've announced I was to blade, and the way Tyson would've disagreed.

Speak of the devil, Tyson and Max wandered over and sat down next to us "What you two gossiping about like a pair of old ladies?" Tyson grinned

"We've just decided who's playing the preliminaries" I stated "It's going to be a big battle, loads of blades in the dish at once, there's one representative from each team in a selection of four different groups"

"Alright!" Tyson punched the air enthusiastically "That sounds great, we can really show them what we're made of!" Tyson grinned

"That's why we've chosen Ray to play in the preliminaries for our team" Kenny moved his glasses on his head as Tyson's face fell into a glum expression

"Don't take it like that Tyson, I'll explain" he perked up as I spoke and listened carefully while I explained "I'm able to switch strategies for different battles. So, we feel it would be best to have me play a new and unused, or at least, rarely used strategy which means they can't get any information on us in the preliminaries. If we used you for this battle Tyson they'd know all your moves within the first rounds" Tyson nodded in understanding

"That sounded like a suggestion Kai would've made, and not only do I trust his judgment more than my own, I trust yours too Ray. We'll do that then" Tyson grinned

"Now. As a celebration to us figuring this out. I say we go eat!" Tyson grinned wider and jumped up. I laughed and followed his lead, it was beginning to get late and food was a good idea.

XXX

The days passed quickly with all the training we had to do to prepare ourselves for the tournament, it was very soon after we'd gotten home…no doubt a plan by Mr. Dickenson to get our minds off Kai…but I don't think he accounted for the difficulty in competing without him. Tyson, though he wouldn't admit it just yet, was struggling most of our team.

His beyblading plummeted whenever his mind wandered, which it was doing right now. Max easily knocked his blade away before Tyson even noticed what was happening

I need to talk to him. I thought to myself "Hey Max practice on your agility, I need to talk to you Tyson"

"Uh. Sure Ray" Tyson followed me out of the hearing of the others and I turned to face him

"Try not to worry about Kai not being here for the tournament" I decided to launch myself in head-first into the problem

"Wha?" Tyson looked at me dumbstruck

"Every time your mind wanders your game goes downhill completely, Tyson. You've gotta stop worrying about Kai not being here. I'm sure he's angrier that you're blading like this" I tried to keep my voice calm and level

"You're right Ray. Sorry. I just can't help it y'know? He deserved to be here with us" Tyson looked at the grass

"But he's not with us, so we've gotta fight for him. And he'll be proud of us when we win for him" I replied with a smile

"Yeah. We'll win this for him!" Tyson smiled "Thanks dude" he turned to leave

"No problem" I smiled in return and followed him back out to the field. He ran enthusiastically to Max and launched Dragoon mid run

I stood next to Kenny who smiled "Whatever you said Ray…it worked" I grinned and pulled out Drigger

"Let's get going!" I smiled and launched Drigger and got to work on my new strategy

XXX

Eventually the day of the tournament arrived

"Let's GOOOO!" Tyson ran to the coach waiting to pick us all up

XXX

We arrived at the stadium just on time and the preliminaries were going to begin in just 10 minutes. Thankfully our groups had not been placed against each other in the preliminaries, I think that might have something to do with Mr. Dickenson but I wasn't about to ask

"Get going then Ray, we'll be watching from the stands!" Tyson grabbed Max's hand and ran off I chuckled to myself

"Good luck my friend" Lee smiled and followed with the rest of the teams

XXX

I readied my blade, it was clear that there were few well known teams, like us, however I could see some real talent emerging as I began to blade, the top 5 from each preliminary would advance, the method had changed as there were too many applicants and it would take nearly a solid week to sort through them all with only one winner per group. I smiled as blades flew out of the dish and soon the five winners were left standing

Myself, a short blonde girl who surprised me, she had freckles dusting her nose and curly pigtails, although she looked to be about 17. 2 teenage boys that were clearly friends but on opposing teams, they were about the same height, one brown haired and one blonde they had grins wide across their faces, clearly impressed they had both made it through. And finally a strange looking boy, he was quite short as well but wore a long black coat with the hood up, which made it near impossible to see his face.

'_Keep an eye on him'_ I thought to myself as my team ran over "Well done Ray!" Max cheered "Although we knew you'd win" he winked and laughed loudly.

XXX

We hung round for the rest of the day, watching our friends battle and watching the other preliminaries out of curiosity. There seemed to be a lot of talent this year, maybe we had our work cut out for us….Kai really did leave at he worst time didn't he?

"We should get back" Tyson poked me; I looked around noticing the stadium slowly but surely emptying. I nodded and followed the group out to the coach, passing all the flailing fans trying to shove autograph books under our noses in an attempt to get us to sign, I signed a few on my way but I wasn't really in the mood.

I didn't really have much to say that evening so I decided to go for a wander on my own in the cool night air…I wandered past all the places I knew Kai loved to go to be alone, and settled for the river near Tyson's house. I watched the water twinkling from the light of the setting sun and wondered briefly how Tala was coping, but I didn't give the thought much more time, there wasn't any point.

I lay back on the cool grass and watched the sky slowly turn from red, to pink, to purple and then to a deep blue/black. I sighed as the stars made themselves clear on the dark sky. I smiled, realizing how Kai could sit here for hours. I heard something or someone move nearby me and shot upright, my cat-like eyes scanning the surroundings, I couldn't see anyone. I stood up slowly, and something else moved. I swung myself round and looked over behind me, again nothing. I decided that I was best to go, there were some pretty rough gangs that hung around in the nearby places that came here at night

I quickly left the river-side, now I understood why Kai COULD hang around here all night, he was tough enough. I arrived back at the dojo just after 9.30pm. I hadn't been out for longer than an hour and a half.

I didn't bother sitting with the rest of the teams, and decided instead to go straight to bed. I curled up under my covers and quickly fell asleep looking forward to watching the preliminaries tomorrow…

XXX

I woke up just after 8am, I rolled over and stretched before slowly pulling myself out of bed to get ready… I made breakfast for everyone as they came downstairs, joined the queue for the shower, and soon enough we were on our way to the stadium.

I sat in the stands with various other teams while the rest battled the preliminaries, naturally all of my friends teams got through.

XXX

The day went quickly, as did the entire of the preliminaries. We had a few days off while the organizers sorted out the timetables and procedures and who would face who…so we had some time on our hands

We mostly planned to train, with an afternoon off in between to do whatever we pleased, which, if Tyson had his way, would be spent eating.

XXX

It was our afternoon off, Tyson, Max and Kenny along with plenty of the others had all gone to watch a film…that left me to some alone time…

I thought about the upcoming rounds and who should fight who…and after just a few minutes I was about ready to tear my hair out. Every time I came up with a solution I thought of someone who could win without any flaws to my plan, another one cropped up. I must've sat for hours thinking about everything, every little possibility, until I had each one memorized.

Now I definitely understood how Kai could sit for hours thinking, if he was thinking about this.

XXX

The first rounds came all to quickly, there were so many teams that these would take two days, which meant that we got another day off, however I expected to spend it at the stadium so Kenny could gather data and we could support our friends.

We sat in the locker room waiting to be called out for our round. It took an excruciatingly long time. We decided to use Tyson and Myself for the first two rounds, then Max for the third.

We were against some unheard of kids that had a lot of talent but absolutely no team work, as we arrived into the stadium to cheers and shouts, they were arguing over at their bench. I sighed and sat down, Tyson took the first match. Winning it in only a few minutes, I chuckled to myself as Tyson stuck winning poses and punched the air before running back to our bench.

"Beat that!" he smiled smugly and I laughed at his childishness

"Let's go!" I smirked and walked up to the dish as did my opponent.

I wiped the floor with his blade in about the same time as Tyson. I turned and chuckled as Tyson jumped up and down at the bench. The kid I just faced started cussing at me and his blade and his team…which only made me chuckle louder as I walked back to the bench

"And" Jazzman announced "THE WINNERS ARE THE BLADEBREAKERS!" He smiled down at us sadly, obviously realizing how difficult it must be, Mr. Dickenson must have told him not to mention Kai.

I smiled up at him, and we left the stadium without another word to anyone.

As the next rounds began we sat in the stands, it was the odd person from before, and his team, who looked just the same with their hoods up.

He reminded me of someone I knew so much but I could think who….

I sat pondering for a second, and then suddenly it came to me, OZUMA! He was exactly like Ozuma (only a little taller since I last saw him) I grinned, Ozuma had entered the tournament too?

"Hey guys!" I leant over towards them "I think it's Ozuma!" Max looked over and smiled

"You're right!!" Max smiled enthusiastically "It's been AGES since we saw him!" he grinned and looked back down at the team "and the rest of the gang!"

I smiled "I wonder if they know about Kai?" Max asked, his expression falling

"I'm sure they have, and besides they were never Kai's biggest fans! It's not important at the moment Max" I smiled, trying to move the conversation along.

"We should try finding him after!" Max grinned again

"Yeah, we should offer them our comfort for losing" I snickered

The Allstars stepped into the stadium and cheers filled the stadium. Rick grinned lapping up the praise and I laughed at him as he punched the air and waved.

The battles started quickly, Rick stepped up to the bey-dish and the battle instantly began, Ozuma wasn't battling, it looked like it was Dunga. I grinned as they both launched their blades and clashed mid-air, this could be a really good battle.

My eyes widened as Rick's blade flew over his shoulder and crashed into the stadium floor a few meters away

"No way!" Max jumped up and laughed "Come on Rick, you can do better than that! You better hope Michael and Emily win!" Rick looked at Max and rolled his eyes

Michael walked up to the bey-stadium, as did Joseph, and the match began quickly.

Both blades flew into the dish in fury, they clashed into eachother just a few times, and Michael's blade flew from the dish and landed just in front of the Allstar's bench. Max's mouth fell open "I don't believe it" he muttered

"AND REVOLUTION X ARE THE WINNERS!" Jazz man yelled into his microphone. I stared in shock at Joseph as he walked back to the bench

"They changed their team name too" Max said in shock, I nodded and stared at Michael who angrily picked up his blade and left the stadium.

Tyson started laughing "Ozuma and his team sure have improved!" I agreed without any hesitation, there was no doubting that. Half an hour later the Allstars sat next to us in the stands

"Cheer up guys, you can watch all the action now!" Max smiled, Michael smiled in return

"I wasn't expecting that, that's for sure! I thought they just got a lucky hit on Rick's blade" Michael complained.

Max chuckled "Never mind eh? What's done is done" Rick nodded angrily

"Let's go get something to eat before The White Tiger's match!" Tyson jumped up and ran for the hotdog stand before he had even finished speaking, I laughed and followed, even the Allstars cheered up enough to buy a hotdog each and enjoy it while we watched the white tiger's thrash their opponents

We walked to find the board telling us our opponents for the next match; it appeared that if we were lucky we wouldn't have to face Revolution X at all…unless it came to the finals.

XXX

We all headed back to the Dojo at the end of the day, every team but the Allstars had advanced

"Who's got Revolution X tomorrow?" Max asked, the White Tigers looked over

"Us" Lee replied and smiled "We'll show them whose boss" he grinned a feline grin and I smiled

"Good job!" Tyson smiled

Let's hope they beat them I thought to myself worriedly, the Saint Shields, now X Revolution, had definitely improved since we'd seen them last.

XXX

The evening passed quickly, I spent a lot of it on my own outside in the warm air, enjoying the quiet

Who knows what this tournament has in store for us….all I could think for most of the evening was what if we had to face Revolution X?

Who would we have fight first? Tyson, go all out and hope we win the first battle? Max, he is, in the nicest way, our weakest fighter, relying on his defense…maybe send him in first, just in case he can't quite win…then there's an extra push for Tyson to win?

I sighed as the same thoughts swam round inside my head. What if's flying around my thoughts

XXX

The morning arrived slowly… I woke up early and went for a walk before anyone else woke up…I'm beginning to be a lot like Kai nowadays I chuckled

The sky was a lovely pale blue as I walked the deserted roads, it was only 5am…the air was crisp but not too cold, I was happy in my long sleeved top. The birds were beginning to wake up and sing, the cars began to drive past as my walk went on. I found myself at the park, the grass was wet with dew, the large river sparkling in the early morning sunshine. I sat on a bench for a short while, and decided to walk home after a bit, it was nearly 8am and everyone would be waking up and wondering where I was.

I walked back quicker this time, people were bustling around the streets, cars passing me on the roads, children already out on their way to the park. I smiled as I arrived back in the dojo to hear a

"Thank god you're ok Ray!" from Max I chuckled

"I'm fine, just went for a walk" I smiled as Max relaxed.

"We've gotta be at the stadium in a hour…breakfast!" Tyson ran to the kitchen and grabbed a bowl and some cereal; I passed him the milk, which he managed to slosh everywhere around his bowl as well as in it. I laughed and leant against the wall listening to the bustling people in the kitchen…someone had burnt their toast, the smell of porridge filled the room, more cereal was poured and everyone argued over the orange juice.

I continued to watch the room around me, and noticed Tala watching me carefully with sad eyes; I realized how like Kai this must seem to him. I threw an apologetic look his way and moved to sit down and grab some food…me turning into someone like Kai really wasn't going to help the situation

XXX

Eventually everyone was ready and we left for the tournament, everyone hoping the white tigers could defeat Revolution X…

**Hey, quick update I know, aren't you proud?**

**Sorry for killing Kai off….don't worry though, there's still plenty more coming from this story! Don't give up hope!! ;)**

**Hope you liked it, and thanks to Miako6 I have everything planned, and I have more than one trick up my sleeve for this story!**

**Just wait for it**

**Don't forget to review**

**xflightofthephoenix**


	8. The Tournament

**Ray's POV**

We arrived at the stadium just before 9am...the white tiger's were up later on in the day, possibly even the last battle for the part of the tournament.

We had to face another unknown team, they didn't seem very good...they had the team spirit but were lacking the talent. We had seen them in a previous match against another unknown and extremely untalented team

"This'll be a breeze" Tyson grinned, I laughed and nodded.

XXX

We were called up at around 1pm, our match hopefully shouldn't take too long and we could get this day over with quickly.

"Ok Tyson, the floor's all yours" I smiled as he walked up to the bey-dish confidently.

A mouthy blonde girl, the one that had passed in my preliminary round as well, stepped up to the dish. She had a nasty mouth on her, you wouldn't expect it from the way she looked, and blonde curls bounced on her shoulders, freckles dusted her nose. She grinned and fiddled with the hem of her pink skirt

Tyson smiled and chuckled as she began mouthing off again, until she over-stepped the mark

"So what happened to the almighty Kai then?" she snorted and waited for a reply

Tyson's eyes narrowed and he glared at the girl for a long moment. He said nothing, but pulled out his blade, she mirrored him.

"You gunna answer?" she snarled angrily

"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIP!!" Jazzman yelled. Tyson yanked the ripcord with all his strength and a furious yell. His blade shot into the dish faster than I had ever seen it, dragoon was running rings round her blade. Tyson was beyond angry, that was clear to anyone, just by the way dragoon smashed relentlessly into her blade, smashing pieces of metal and chunks of her blade off. He growled as Dragoon slammed into her blade one last time, where it promptly broke into tiny pieces.

She stared in disbelief at the remains of her pink blade. "You...you destroyed my blade!" she yelled furiously at him pointing her finger angrily.

"And?" he replied cooly, the anger only an undertone in his facade.

She threw her arms up in the air and then stomped off to her seat. I glared at her back as she wandered over to her team, and as she turned to look over at me, I didn't stop glaring. She looked at me with big eyes but didn't make any attempt at an apology. I growled quietly as Tyson walked over.

"That little pipsqueak is SO annoying!" he shouted furiously and sat down. I looked at him with an equally angry expression and spoke calmly and evenly

"She overstepped the mark talking about Kai that way" Tyson nodded in reply

"Yeah, she did"

"No point in thinking about it now, Max you're up next for our match" Kenny said calmly.

"Yep." Max jumped up "I won't let them win, not after what she said"

He walked up to the dish, neither opponent spoke

"3, 2, 1 LET IT RIP!!" Jazzman yelled once again

Both blades flew into the dish, the silver blade of Max's opponent spun round and round the edge of the dish, while max's span in the centre of the dish, not wavering from the centre.

"Come on!" the boy yelled at his blade, which promptly smashed into Max's blade at a great speed. Max's blade didn't budge an inch. The silver blade flew at Draciel over and over, repeatedly trying to damage his blade the way Tyson had his teammates.

Eventually Max had enough "Come on Draciel, finish this!" Max blade obeyed and moved from the centre of the dish, smashing into the silver blade in a head-on-attack. The silver blade flew from the dish and landed just behind their team bench. Max smiled and called Draciel back to his waiting hand, and walked back to the bench

"And the BLADEBREAKERS WIN!" Jazzman yelled enthusiastically

We left the stadium to cheers and whistles, and soon we made our way back into the crowd. We watched the other unknown team's battle for a while; none of the matches were particularly exciting at this early point in the tournament.

Eventually the white tigers were called up.

"Good luck guys show them whose boss" I grinned as they left for the match

XXX

The first match was between Dunga and Kevin. The match began quickly, both blades circled the dish for a few moments before meeting and clashing this only however happened for a few minutes, as Kevin's blade wobbled to a stop n the centre of the dish.

My eyes widened...his blade ran out of spin? This quickly? No, surely not. Unless it's a new talent of Dunga's bitbeast. I contemplated that for a moment when Kenny spoke

"It seems that Dunga's bitbeast has some kind of ability to drain the energy from an opposing blade, therefore stopping its ability to spin. Very clever really, but not unbeatable either. I'm sure Max's defense will be able to block it from happening to Draciel. We'll have to work on it between our matches to get him ready" Kenny smiled "We can do this Ray. Don't worry so much"

I nodded and watched the match as Mariam stepped up to face Mariah, The match began swiftly and the blades both circled the dish again, Mariah yelled angrily and sent Gallux in on a head-on-attack, the blades clashed furiously, neither giving in, however only moments later, Mariah's blade, pulled back. Suddenly it broke clean in two. I stared in disbelief at the dish and the two pieces of Mariah's blade.

"You destroyed my blade!" she cried angrily and slid into the dish, picking up her blade.

She left the floor without another word and a few minutes later sat next to me angrily

"I can't believe he destroyed my blade!" she snarled, her eyes flashing angrily

"I'll help you build a new one Mariah" Kenny suggested

"Oh would you?!" Mariah asked thankfully

"Of course" Kenny smiled

"Thanks Chief" she replied happily.

XXX

We arrived back at the dojo just in time for dinner, we all ate quietly, and Revolution X was beginning to become a huge problem. I sighed as the team trudged outside to practice for our next match.

"Right then, Max you need to work on your defence for this match." I said tiredly, he nodded and moved away to practice "Tyson, agility, you have enough moves that don't require contact, you'll be taking on Mariam, so you need to keep away from her blade as much as possible. Ok?" Tyson nodded and left with Dragoon

"That means you face Ozuma" Kenny said, I nodded

"We don't know how he blades, if we put those two on to tasks that they can achieve, then at least the know what they're doing...as for me, unless we see him battle we'll have to work it out in the spot" Kenny nodded

"You better work on any and everything I guess" Kenny said, I smiled

"We've got it covered" I grinned and yawned

"Ray you're exhausted, you should get some rest" Tala said quietly.

"I'll be fine" I smiled as everyone left to do their own thing, leaving me and Tala talking

"Don't overdo it. You're turning more and more into Kai." My eyes widened, Tala never mentioned Kai

"Yeah" I nodded "At least I understand why he was the way he was now" I smiled softly at Tala.

Tala nodded "Don't push yourself too hard" he smiled and left me to train.

I only managed an hour before I left to get some rest.

XXX

All too soon morning arrived. I sighed and rolled over, I pulled myself up and we all got ready for the day of matches, it was the last day of this round, then we'd all move up...the semi-finals were beginning to get closer and closer

Thankfully we didn't have any matches today...I would've suggested we spent the day catching up on the rest we'd lost recently, and training for the rest of the afternoon. But I felt we should be supporting our friends as they had done for us. So there we were again at the stadium.

We spent all day cheering on our friends, who all passed through to the next round. It was only X Revolution that was a serious problem for us at the moment...until we came up against each other.

"Let's go home" Michael smiled

XXX

We arrived at the dojo mid-afternoon; Kenny spent nearly all the rest of the day rebuilding Mariah a blade, thankfully Gallux's bit chip hadn't been damaged, so it was simply fixing the blade that was needed.

Eventually Mariah had a new sparkly pink beyblade, it looked to be stronger, much stronger than her original blade.

She smiled and thanked Kenny before running over to Lee, to show him her new blade

I smiled and watched for a moment before continuing my training. It was difficult to work on everything efficiently. I couldn't practice defence and offense at the same time...I had to prioritise.

We spent until nearly 10pm practicing, the next rounds began tomorrow, so every team needed to be prepared in case they had Revolution X...so by the end of the night we were exhausted and all fell asleep within a few minutes of climbing into bed.

XXX

The morning arrived quickly, as per usual, the sun was pouring through the gap in the curtains, everyone was slowly waking up and we all trudged to the kitchen, where Bruce was making breakfast for us all.

"You all seem so tired, I thought I'd make you a fry-up" he smiled as everyone's faces lit up.

"Thanks dad!" Tyson smiled and flung himself onto a kitchen chair.

XXX

The stadium was packed when we arrived. There were more people than I think had ever been inside this stadium.

We checked the board to see who we had it was the semi-finals in only a day. The Majestics had the misfortune of facing Revolution X, we had the bladesharks, I had no idea they were even here. Then, there were 3 unknown teams and the Demolition Boys, leaving whoever the winners were, to the semi-finals tomorrow...

We were called up first, the bladesharks leader was Carlos, but the rest of the team was new...I smiled as Tyson walked to face Carlos

"Long time no see" Tyson grinned, and Carlos smiled back

"Yeah" he agreed. "Let's get going then!" Tyson grinned

"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIP!!!" Jazzman yelled into his microphone

Both blades flew into the dish, clashing fursiously, Tyson had the upper hand within minutes, all his agility practice had paid off...every time Carlos moved in to attack, Tyson easily moved out of the way

The match continued for minutes n this fashion, Tyson was being pushed nearer and nearer the edge of the dish, but I wasn't worried, he'd fix it.

Carlos kept going for Tyson's blade, over and over, until Tyson was right at the edge, all he needed was for Carlos to slip up, and as soon as the thought entered my mind, Carlos made for a final push over the edge of the dish, but Dragoon shot out the way last minute, far too late for the attack to be diverted by any command.

Carlos's blade shot from the dish and started spinning outside the dish on the stadium floor. I grinned as Tyson walked back and Max took his place.

I lost concentration when Max began to battle; he had the match one as soon as it had started.

I let my mind wander to nothing important, and only camr back down to earth after Max had walked over grinning from ear to ear "AND THE BLADEBREAKERS ADVANCE!!" Jazzman yelled excitedly.

I left the stadium with the rest, but decided to go for a wander on my own round the corridors, as I was walking past the locker rooms I could here Revolution X inside one of the rooms…I should but I leant into the wall to eavesdrop when I heard Jazzman calling the next to teams up to the stadium, the Majestics and X Revolution.

I jumped a few feet away and carried on walking as the team left the room, Ozuma was first, I could tell by his height, and by his shockingly blood red hair. It was long and flopped down to his shoulders but was pulled back messily into a lose pony-tail, bits hung out at the sides and his face was hidden behind his unruly hair. He looked very skinny, from what I could see under the large cloak that still covered him. I was about to call him over, but he pulled his hood up and followed Dunga, Mariam and Joseph to the stadium.

As I walked around I thought about it 'I guess they're still living the street life, only it's not treating them so well' I assumed, I smiled 'we could easily help them'

I headed to the stands after a quarter of an hours wandering…when I arrived the second battle was already underway, the Majestics had lost their first battle, and they were already losing the second. Johnny growled and snarled as Mariams blade danced circles around his own. With a quick flick of her wrist, her blade flew into Johnny's, sending it shooting into the wall behind the Majestics' bench. I stared in disbelief…how much longer can they keep this up for?!

The Majestics sat down next to us after the battle was over and grumpily said nothing.

"I can't believe we lost to such a nobody team!" Robert complained angrily, his hands balled into fists on his lap in anger.

I chuckled "Don't worry about it Robert" …as I thought about it I came to realise that it was just us and the demolition boys fighting for Kai now.

I sighed as two unknown groups walked up to the dish, "It'll be you guys up after this" I smiled at Tala. He nodded in determination, but to be fair, the only threat was Revolution X, or ourselves, however I think Mr. Dickenson had made sure none of us were to face each other, until the final that is.

The second match went on for nearly twenty minutes. Both teams were determined not to let their side down, one to win the battle, the other to stop them from losing.

It went on for a while but eventually the 'underdog' won, meaning a third battle must be played to find the semi-finalist team.

After another fifteen minutes of battling the match ended and the underdogs won. The crowd erupted into cheers and whistles mixed in with all the clapping.

The Demolition Boys left the stands in preparation for the battle, though in truth they had nothing to worry about.

The battle was called out and both teams entered the stadium, cheers erupted as Tala stepped through the doors; I chuckled at the girls nearby cheering louder than I though possible and screaming how they loved him.

The battle began, Tala took the first round, ending it so quickly I wasn't sure it even happened…he however did have the decency to spare the boy he was facing's blade.

Tala walked back to his bench expressionlessly, Spencer stepped up next, and he didn't play any of his dirty tricks from the Russian finals way back when.

The match took a tiny bit longer, but was still over quick as a flash.

We all left the stands and waited in the corridor for them, as we stood, Revolution X left their room, Ozuma glanced at me, I could only see the tiniest fraction of his face behind his blood red hair.

Tala and the Demolition Boys walked up to us from the other direction and we left for the coach, not seeing which direction Revolution X had left in.

XXX

We arrived back at the dojo in the early evening, and sent our time watching 'Rush hour' and 'Rush hour 2', we ran out of time for 'Rush hour 3' I smiled at the relaxed atmosphere within the room. The tournament was nearing its end and we could get on with other things, maybe I could go back to China for a bit with Lee and the White Tigers…

XXX

I woke up groggily; I was still on the sofa? I glanced round at every teen sleeping on the sofa, or on the floor… or in fact half on the sofa half on the floor. I started laughing at Tyson, whose head was hanging upside down off the edge of the sofa.

My loud laughing disturbed the teens and they all slowly woke up, all but Tyson of course. Almost instantly they all knew what I was laughing at.

Eventually we took pity and woke him, and I slowly cooked breakfast for the group. After the fry-up we had not so long ago, we needed another one!

We all ate in silence, enjoying the food as best we could, while worrying about the semi-finals today, would it be us or the Demolition Boys facing Revolution X? if either of us, we could have the misfortune of meeting each other in this round, although I'm sure that Mr. Dickenson's perfect plan wouldn't slip up just yet.

XXX

We arrived at the stadium in plenty of time, so we checked the board…we were facing a group I hadn't heard of before the tournament, but I heard they are quite the talent, in comparison to Revolution X they were just child's play though.

The Demolition Boy's had the misfortune of facing Revolution X… and this would be the last round which each person played only one round…come the finals it would be 3 rounds, each containing 3 matches between each pair.

The bladebreakers were to play our match first, I suppose it was to get the 'easy' match out the way. None of us complained however, we took the battles as they came at us, and surprisingly this was an oddly feeble attempt…the more I thought about it, the more I realised, I hadn't called out Drigger once…nor had any other team called their bitbeasts out yet…I suppose we were saving that for the finals.

The matches went swiftly, and we advanced to the finals.

"NEXT UP IS REVOLUTION X VERSUS THE DEMOLITION BOYS!! FIGHTING FOR A PLACE IN THE FINALS!!!" Jazzman yelled loudly to the audience.

We cheered and whistled for the Demolition Boys and the matches began.

The first was Bryan versus Mariam, the battle was long, and it dragged on and on. Both blades were so evenly matched it was untrue. However, eventually, the match came to a close, leaving Mariam the triumphant winner.

Spencer was up next, against Dunga. The battle was a lot shorter and Spencer came out the winner after some debatably rule breaking moves. He grinned and laughed as he walked back.

The next up was Tala against Ozuma. The match began, and from the first clash everyone in the audience was silent at the intense power radiating off the blades. They clashed in perfect timing over and over.

"Come on!" Tala called to Wolborg angrily. I looked at Ozuma, he was staring down at the ground, his face completely hidden by the shadow of his hood.

The battle raged on for a few more minutes, and Ozuma looked up, "Now" he said in an emotionless, dark voice, one with no hope.

His blade flew across the dish in a streak of blue and sent Tala's blade shooting out of the dish.

Tala stared at Ozuma blankly with wide eyes for a good few moments

"AND REVOLUTION X ARE THE WINNERS!" Jazz man yelled loudly. I stared blankly at Tala, who still remained stationary.

Bryan called him and he snapped out of his trance, and swiftly left the stadium.

"He wanted to win for Kai" Tyson whispered in my ear "I guess he can't believe that he's not going to get the chance to bring the trophy back for him" he sighed and sat back straight in his seat.

We had no reason to be at the stadium now. It was down to us versus X Revolution. And I was definitely not looking forward to it.

XXX

We spent all evening, as a large group, every team, figuring out exactly how we could win this.

"So…we keep Ray for the final match?" Tyson asked

"Yes" Kenny nodded

"And Max fights first?" Michael asked

Mariah nodded

"Ok" Tyson grinned and high-fived Max "I can't wait!" he grinned and punched the air.

"And Max, your plan is to stick to defence completely" Kenny re-iterated "Tyson, do the usual, anything to win. But you might want to be careful; their head on attacks are quite difficult. Ray, you've gotta stick to what you know, just as Tyson does" I nodded, so did Tyson and Max.

"We should get an early night. We've got a lot of battles to face tomorrow" I suggested

"But I'm so excited!" Tyson jumped up and grinned

"Well, save being excited for tomorrow and sleep now so you're awake when we win yes?" Emily sniggered as I spoke

Tyson nodded and raced to the bathroom and within a few minutes he was in bed. I chuckled as we all got into our beds and the light was turned out.

XXX

I Woke up after a light nights sleep just before 6am. I rolled over and over for about an hour and eventually I decided to get up and shower before everyone else did.

After I was finished I sat at the kitchen table, no one was up yet, although it was only half past seven. I stared out the window until the others began to stir. Tala, Bryan and Spencer were first to emerge. They were all already dressed and ready to go. They didn't eat much for breakfast, but then again they didn't ever eat much.

The other teams slowly arrived, and we all sat around waiting for the day to begin at the stadium.

"We could leave now and wait at the stadium?" Tyson suggested, we decided that was a better idea than sitting around the kitchen and left about 10 minutes later

XXX

We arrived nice and early and went straight to our locker room, it looked like Revolution X were already in their locker room. We sat down in our room and different conversations broke out throughout the groups.

I leant against the wall catching everyone's conversations; nothing interesting was said throughout the entire morning. I sighed as we could hear the stadium filling up with excited fans.

"I guess we should head out towards the dish then" Tyson suggested "and you guys get to the stands" Everyone filtered out of the room and we made our way to the stadium just as Revolution X was called out, then us.

As we stepped out of the shadow of the wide corridor and into the light of the stadium the crowd erupted into cheers and whistles. I smiled and sat in the shade of the bench, hidden from the harsh electrical lighting.

"AND FIRST UP WE HAVE MAX VERSUS MAIA!" Jazzman yelled. Max looked at me with wide eyes, Maia? I looked back at him with as little alarm displayed on my face as possible.

He walked up as Maia took her hood down, her black hair fell down to her elbows, and her deep brown eyes twinkled in the light. She was pale, and she was slim, but not too skinny. I had a better chance to analyse everything here, and I could see from their faces a lot about them. She had a small scar underneath her right eye, but it looked to be years old. She must have been about 14 or 15; she was impossibly good for her age.

"3, 2, 1 LET IT RIP!!!" Jazzman screamed and both bladers pulled the ripcords with all their might.

"COME ON DRACIEL!" Max yelled and his blade span in the centre of the dish strongly as Maia's blade flew towards his over and over. Only a few minutes in however his blade began to wobble…Max didn't have enough strength to keep this up till her blade ran our of spin

"LET'S GO!" Maia yelled in a song-like voice to her blade, which shot into Draciel and stopped her spinning in an instant. Max glumly picked up his blade and walked back over to the bench for the two minute break between the matches.

"Don't worry about it Max" Tyson comforted while Kenny tweaked his blade

"Unfortunately there isn't much I can do to improve the strength of your blade at this late-a time." Kenny apologised to Max, who nodded glumly

He walked back up to the dish for round two.

"LET IT RIP!" he yelled in unison with Jazzman as he yanked his rip-cord so hard I was worried it might snap.

His blade spun furiously round the dish, then settled for a central spot. Maia's blade flew into his, and Draciel didn't budge an inch, thankfully. Now it was a case of hoping that Max's fury would keep his blade spinning long enough to wear Maia's out.

Her blade flew around the dish angrily, and flew at Draciel so many times I lost count. Maia's face was twisted with concentration; she watched her blade so closely you would think she was telling it where to go with her eyes.

Max watched Draciel carefully, but after a few more minutes of the battle, his blade again began to wobble. He looked desperately at Draciel to help "COME ON DRACIEL!" he yelled, the large purple bitbeast appeared from his blade moments later, and seeing no other option, he sent her to attack.

His green blade flew into hers but she wasn't budging, he slowly wore himself out and eventually his blade wobbled and fell stationary. He sighed sadly and picked up Draciel

"Good match" Maia said softly across the bey-dish to Max.

"Yeah" Max replied with a smile and jogged back to our bench.

"AND THE WINNERS OF THIS ROUND ARE REVOULTION X!" Jazzman shouted top the audience who broke into cheers, however not as loud as they could have been.

"THE NEXT MATCH WILL BEGIN IN TEN MINUTES!" Jazzman shouted loudly.

Tyson looked at me worriedly "Don't worry dude" I reassured "You'll pull through. Then it's down to me" Tyson nodded confidently

"Yeah. I'll do my best!" He grinned as Kenny tweaked his blade.

"Right, there's nothing more I can do. Go get 'em Tyson!" Kenny laughed and handed Tyson Dragoon.

"LET'S GO!" Tyson laughed and ran to the dish just as Jazzman began to announce the match

"AND SECONDLY WE HAVE TYSON FROM THE BLADEBREAKERS VERSUS LEIO!" Jazzman yelled loudly

Tyson grinned back at me

Leio pulled his hood down and grinned at Tyson. He was a pale boy, no older than 16. He had white blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He was huge, really muscular and he had definitely been that way for at least a year.

"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIP!" Jazzman yelled and the match began Tyson pulled the rip cord from his blade as quickly as he could and Dragoon span quicker than I had ever seen before.

Leio matched the strength with his blade. It was going to be a very close match. The blades were both quite offensively based. Tyson after a few moments began to stick to his plan and kept as far away from Leio's blade as was possible.

"PHANTOM HURRICANE!" Tyson yelled loudly to Dragoon, a whirlwind filled the stadium. Leio took a step backwards to avoid the wind, but he didn't falter. His blade continued to spin just as strongly despite the gale-force wind that should have sent him straight tout of the dish

"COME ON DRAGOON!!" Tyson yelled louder, and the attack picked up, not only in speed but also in size and strength. Leio stumbled a bit and his blade flew from the dish. Tyson jumped and punched the air "YES!" he yelled and jumped up and down repeatedly then picked up Dragoon and raced back to our bench bubbling with excitement

"Well done Tyson!" Max laughed and high-fived the hyper teen

"Round two!" Tyson cheered and ran off with his blade, ready to win the next match

"OK AND 3, 2, 1, LET IT RIP!" Jazzman yelled loudly, both blades flew into the dish.

Tyson wasted no time getting going "DRAGOON!" he yelled, and the trusty turquoise dragon appeared from his blade. "Let's do this dragoon" he said quietly, I only just heard him. Dragoon almost nodded and shot towards Leio's blade, sending it back a good few inches towards the edge

"COME ON ZOLIA!" he called to his blade, a large red snake rose from his blade; it was nearly the same size as Dragoon, it had large fangs and it appeared to resemble a cobra. I watched the snake in awe as both Dragoon and Zolia circled each other attacking in quick strikes.

"Come on Dragoon!" Tyson called to his bitbeast, summoning all the power he could. Dragoon straightened himself up and almost looked bigger than before. I grinned; Tyson was all over this match.

"LET'S FINISH THIS!" He yelled and with one final charge Tyson's blade knocked Leio's out of the dish. Making it tied at one all. So now it was down to me to win the final matches.

"AND TYSON IS THE WINNER!!!" Jazzman yelled excitedly Tyson jumped up and down and grinned at the cheering audience He dashed over Dragoon help high and he laughed loudly "I WON!" he cheered

"Down to you Ray!" he grinned and I smiled back. Not too much pressure then.

"Don't scare him Tyson!" Max laughed at my expression.

"RIGHT AND FOLKS WE HAVE A LAST SWITCH OF THE FINAL PLAYERS!" Jazzman began I looked at him "IT WILL BE RAY VERSUS XANDRE!"

"Xandre?" Tyson looked at me "Has he played before?"

"I think he's the captain, who we thought was Ozuma" I explained

Tyson nodded and smiled as I got up to walk to the dish

"Let's go buddy!" Tyson called from behind, I smiled and stopped just short of the dish, Xandre did the same. His hood was still up, hiding his face in the shadows and red hair.

From what I could see, his eyes looked pale, almost clouded over and misty. Though it was dark under his hood. I wondered if he would take his hood down so I could get a better look at him, but unfortunately the match began before he did.

"AND 3, 2, 1 LET IT RIP!" Jazzman yelled and the match got underway. I was in completely unknown territory, I had no idea what to expect.

The power coming from his blade was immense, I could feel the strength from the moment the blade touched the dish, and this was going to be the toughest battle I'd ever faced…

"DRAZOLIA!" he called, a large wolf-like creature rose from his blade, it was white in colour and was maybe slightly bigger than Drigger.

"COME ON DRIGGER!" I called my trusty Tiger out to face his wolf.

"LET'S GO!" He called to his bitbeast, which obeyed instantly, slamming into Drigger

"COME ON DRIGGER!" I repeated and my blade obeyed slamming into Drazolia with huge power, sending the blade back a few inches.

"DRAZOLIA!" he called to his bitbeast which snarled angrily and made a mad dash to attack Drigger.

"DODGE HIM!" I called urgently, Drigger shot out of the way just in time.

The battle raged on, neither of us giving in, "TIGER CLAW ATTACK!" I screamed as loudly as I dared. My blade flew towards Drazolia, and in an instant, my blade flew from the impact, landing outside the dish.

My attack had not only backfired, but the strength of Drazolia had send Drigger from the dish and out of the battle.

Xandre called Drazolia to his palm with no more than a dull "come". He watched me closely and I examined my blade, I could feel his pale eyes staring closely at me.

I walked back to our bench, and Tyson looked at me sadly

"Come on Ray" he smiled encouragingly "You know what to expect this time, so pound him into the ground!" Tyson grinned and I nodded.

"Yeah" I smiled

"ARE WE READY?!" Jazzman yelled I stepped up to the dish, as did Xandre.

'This time get the better of him' I thought to myself determinedly

"AND IN 3, 2, 1 LET IT RIP!!!!" He screeched into the microphone, I yanked Drigger's ripcord as hard as I could manage, the spin I received in return was incredible. Sparks flung out from the base of my blade, and I grinned as Digger shot around the dish, Xandre seemed quite taken aback by my sudden change in power levels. Even I could tell just how much stronger Drigger was this time round

'For Kai' I thought with a spark of hope as Drigger attacked Drazolia without even a word of command from me…odd.

Drigger continued to attack, I hadn't said a word, but he was actually gaining the upper hand. I grinned as Drigger continued to smash some sense into Xandre's blade.

I tried to think of the last time drigger had been so strong, and I couldn't remember, it was like he had a mind of his own and he was completely ignoring me, but winning in the process. I grinned as Drazolia wash pushed closer and closer and closer to the edge of the dish.

"COME ON DRIGGER FINISH THIS!" I grinned and looked up at Xandre, fear flashed across his pale eyes, just as Drazolia was sent flying from the dish. I smiled widely as Drigger shot back to my hand, I ran back to the bench and high-fived Max and Tyson

"One to go!" Tyson cheered. I smiled and placed Drigger in my pocket.

"Drigger's in fine condition at the moment" Kenny smiled "I won't need to give him the once over" I rinned and picked my trusty blade up. As I held him loosely in my hand, he flashed and very rapidly became red hot. I dropped him in surprise and watched him flash on the floor.

"What was that?" Tyson asked in surprise

"Not sure" I bent down and cautiously picked up my blade which was still quite hot, but not unbearable.

"He's probably just hyped up for the next match!" Max grinned, I chuckled

"Yep!" Tyson smiled and looked over to Revolution X and watched them for a moment.

Xandre was sitting far away from his group, on the edge of the bench, staring intently at the floor or his feet, I couldn't tell which. He was slumped right over, and he was still covered by his large cloak.

"AND TIME FOR THE FINAL ROUND!" Jazzman yelled, I walked to the dish determinedly, I had to win this, Drigger agreed and flashed in my palm

"AND IN 3, 2, 1 LET IT RIP!!!" Jazzman shouted and the match began, Drigger was wild with energy. Xandre stared at the ground intently, glancing up occasionally to watch his blade, or steal a glance at me, probably trying to figure out my plan…he was going to have a task…I didn't have one. He eventually focused his eyes on his blade which danced around the dish in a complicated dance with Drigger.

Both blades moved so quickly I could hardly see who was attacking who, I only knew that I had been hit when I felt the attack through Drigger.

"Come on!" Xandre hissed quietly to his blade, which obeyed, picking up speed and changing directions more often. I growled angrily and Drigger began his pattern of making his own mind up about what to do. I grinned as he began to match Drazolia in speed and moves.

"Come ON!" Xandre hissed desperately, I was going to win, and he knew it.

"COME ON DRAZOLIA!!!" he called out his large bitbeast and I grinned

"COME ON DRIGGER!!!" I called, imagine my shock when a spark of red shot from my blade…

XXX

"Dranzer?" I whispered in amazement at the magnificent red phoenix in front of me.

"D-Dranzer?" Xandre stuttered in a small voice

**Xandre's POV**

I stared at the large red phoenix in awe…

Ray's blade clashed into mine, Dranzer gave a loud shriek as our blades crashed

…_I was sinking, a frozen lake…in Russia..._

Our blades clashed again

…_I brushed Tyson's hand off coldly and carried on walking…_

And again our blades collided

… _I watched as my blade chased Ray's round a practice bey-dish…_

Another clang filled the room as our blades clashed

…_I looked up at the Abbey…_

Another hit

…_the cold, cruel cells in the Abbey…_

…_Boris…_

…_Voltaire…_

…_Tala…_

…_Bryan…_

…_Spencer…_

…_Tyson…_

…_Ray…_

…_Max…_

…_Kenny…_

…_The weeks spent in that cold dark cell… all alone…_

…_the beating…the pain…the cruel words…_

…_The buzzing of the tattoo pen inking my cobalt blue facial tattoos into place for eternity…_

…"_you're a disgrace Kai"…_

…_Kai…was none other…than me…_

An ear piercing shriek filled the room. I crashed to my knees, the pain flaring up, I began to fall forward, I pushed my arms out to break my fall…my shoulder jarred at the sudden pressure, the bones crunching and mashing together.

I hissed in agony as all my memories began to flood back to me. It was only when I hissed that I realised it was ME who had shrieked…it was all me, I was Kai Hiwatari…

I felt tears stream down my cheeks

…_the cold, harsh beatings and the years I spent within those walls…the weeks I spent alone in that small cell…locked in…no light… no friends…no one…_

I choked out a cough and a sob.

…_the crow bar smashed into my shoulder…_

I choked out another sob

…_My knee gave way under the strain of standing…_

…_my ribs ached from just breathing in…_

…_the days, weeks without food…_

My shoulder gave out and I crashed to the floor. I lay, on my side, staring at the wall…not looking at the huge crowd…or the other bladers now running over to me.

I dimly felt someone pick me up, someone strong and muscular. "Shit, he's tiny"

"What's going on?" Someone else asked confusedly

"Let's get him into the locker room and we'll find out"

I let my head fall to the side and my eyes slid into a dazed half closed state

XXX

I opened my eyes fully as I felt the cold bench underneath me. My hood and red hair were still shielding the most of my face.

"Xandre?" Tyson asked

I groaned and tried to push myself up. Someone laid a restraining hand on my shoulder.

"Xandre what's happening" I cringed…they hadn't realised who I was.

I gently reached up and pulled my hood down…no doubt my long floppy hair covered my tattoo's

I caught Tala's eyes, he was staring into my eyes, I looked back willing him to realise who I was

Suddenly his eyes widened "KAI!" he stared at me intensely, almost as much as I was at him.

"OH MY GOD! KAI!"

**And there's another Chapter done, I have written more, but this seemed like a good place to stop for now.**

**Don't forget to review!!!**

**xflightofthephoenix**


	9. Hospital

**Kai's POV**

"Kai" Tala murmured sadly, I blinked and slowly sat up. I leant over, my shoulder was aching madly and my knee was competing for the worst pain. My wrist had long gone numb from the pain

Black spots began to cloud my vision as exhaustion, pain and hunger took over.

"Kai?" Tala asked, he watched me closely. I pulled myself to my feet and planned to get some time alone to think things over. However as soon as I was on my feet, my vision completely faded and the floor swirled up suddenly as I collapsed.

XXX

…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…

I slowly forced my eyes open

I looked around the room, everyone was there, fast asleep…it was dark outside the windows, must be the middle of the night. I shifted on weight slightly and hissed my breath out through my teeth slowly as I shifted my shoulder awkwardly and caught my wrist at a painful angle, which to be honest was anything other than perfectly straight. Tala woke up at the sound and looked at me. He smiled softly and shifted closer to my head.

"Hey" he whispered, I smiled weakly. I shifted again and felt the soft mattress beneath me sink with the pressure. I sighed; I hadn't slept on a bed for weeks…more than a month.

"Are you alright?" he asked as I sighed. I shook my head…the things that had gone on inside those walls…I had spent days under what felt like hundreds of experiments, drugs of all sorts…the beatings that followed were twice as bad. I thought about the list of injuries the doctors would have on me and cringed.

"Kai…I can't believe after everything…you're here" he smiled so sincerely that I felt my eyes fill up with tears and a few slipped down my cheek. Tala wiped them away softly. "I'll let you sleep. You're on a lot of painkillers" he smiled and I looked over to the dark window

He looked at me sadly and returned to his chair to sleep.

I closed my eyes, willing every single ache and pain to subside and allow me to sleep.

XXX

I woke up only a few hours later, it was about 8.30am, I could see a clock on the far wall in this light. I slowly shifted myself on the mattress, being very careful to protect my wrist from any movement. My moving alerted all the bladers to my being awake.

"Kai" Tyson smiled sadly. I couldn't bring myself to smile in return…everything they must have been through…"I can't believe you're here, I'd just begun to get used to the idea of you being gone" He looked at the floor sadly

"Gone?" I whispered, my voice was quiet and hoarse

"Did you not know what's happened here while you were away?" Mariah asked with wide eyes

I shook my head

"Kai, Voltaire staged an accident, said you'd been killed" Tala spoke softly, I shivered at he sound of his name

I nodded but kept my lips sealed. Just the thought of Voltaire and Boris, and now even my own father sent shivers down my spine and threw me back into the horrific memories of my dark past.

**Tala's POV**

Suddenly Kai started coughing, his entire body shook with each cough, and his hands shook violently as he wiped blood on his hospital clothes. He hissed as he moved his wrist, I'd have to ask him about that later.

"Kai, what did they do to you?" Ray asked. Kai stiffened and the beeping of the heart monitor sped up as Kai's breathing began to pick up

He started shaking violently and pulled his knees up to his chest, pulling himself into an upright position.

"Kai calm down!" Bryan ordered. Kai looked at him with his glazed over misted eyes, staring so intently at him he almost looked possessed. His breathing slowed and the beeping of the heart monitor calmed down

He murmured hoarsely under his breath for a minute and began to rock back and forth, his eyes staring unblinkingly at the sheets on his bed.

A quiet knock at the door startled him out of his daze, he jumped and the heart monitor spiked violently. He looked up as a nurse walked in

"Morning Kai" she smiled softly

He looked at her wordlessly

"How are you feeling today" she smiled and watched him, waiting patiently for his reply

"Shit" he spoke softly

"You have had a rough time" she looked at him sympathetically

"You don't know anything" his eyes narrowed

"Actually. Kai. You've had an examination while you were unconscious, Mr. Dickenson allowed it. And we can actually paint a very accurate picture of what's happened to you. Although, I am fairly sure you'd rather we didn't replay it for you" Kai continued to watch her with wide unblinking misty eyes.

"Would you prefer not to hear what exactly is wrong?" Kai shook his head.

"Ok then" she paused "We'll start from the top and work our way down shall we?" she asked, trying to coax Kai into a more involved response. He didn't move at all. "Well, you're head had a nasty cut on the left hand side which we've patched up, I would think you had a rather strong concussion from that one, but you're passed that by now." She paused, waiting to see for any reaction, bad or good and then continued "Thankfully, there is no damage to your neck; however your shoulder is another story. This one we can't figure out what exactly caused it" she paused again

"Crowbar" he said indifferently

She sucked her breath in and scribbled on her note-pad, then continued "your scapula, your shoulder blade that is, is shattered, I'm afraid you'll need surgery to repair that one" She again paused "the plan will be to take out all the bone fragments and replace it with a metal copy" Kai watched her and waited for her to continue.

"Now, you're back is covered with lacerations and bruises…the only thing we can imagine would cause this is some sort of whip" she waited for Kai to answer

"Yes" he blinked slowly and continued to watch her.

"Ok" she scribbled that down and continued "You have about 6 stab wounds to your sides, 2 of which look to be quite old. They have nearly completely healed over, we don't think there has been any internal damage caused from these but we can't be sure until we can actually get a scan to check"

"You're wrist is broken, it appears to have happened some time ago, but in the time between then and now, it has begun to heal wrongly." Kai watched her sceptically "I'm afraid we'll have to re-break it to fix this Kai" Tyson sucked his breath in loudly, the first person to openly cringe at his injuries.

I looked at Kai sadly; he was in a sorry state

"The next problem we encounter is your knee" she looked at her notes and carried on "I'm not sure exactly what has happened here, but it's irrelevant, we'll be replacing your knee cap with a metal one. There is far too much damage, as it stands your knee-cap is completely shattered." I cringed thinking of the pain that would've caused.

"Next is your ankle…it appears to have a hairline fracture but that's nothing to worry about, we'll get it supported and it'll heal up fine"

"You've got multiple bruises from head to toe, but there's nothing we can do about those I'm afraid" she looked down at her notes again "And from what we can tell you've not eaten properly for weeks" Kai nodded "you're seriously underweight and malnourished, that's why your eyes look glazed over, that'll pass once you've started eating properly again, at the moment you're being given nutrients and vitamins through the tubes in the back of your hands"

"I'm afraid you'll be in here for a while Kai" she sighed as a pager beeped from her pocket "we'll have to keep an eye on you, just in case this has any dramatic affects to your mental health"

"Sorry, I have to go help another patient, take it easy Kai" She turned to leave "oh, the door to your room will remain locked, a member of staff will let visitors inside as and when they arrive, and after they leave the door will be locked again." She rushed out the room and we were left in complete silence.

"Oh Kai" Emily said as she watched Kai slip into a dazed state, he didn't look at anyone in the room but just stared at his wrist, which was covered in dark purple and black bruises and looked unbearably painful

Kai seemed to be completely absorbed in his memories of what had happened the last few weeks. The room had fallen completely silent, Kai began to mutter under his breath, something in Russian, I could only pick out a few words, he was speaking so quickly.

I looked around at the other teams, indicating they should give me Bryan and Spencer some time to sort Kai out.

They left without a word; this was a lot for them to take in. They assumed Kai dead; he was taken away from them, and returned a broken mess.

"Kai" Bryan sat the other side of the youngest Russian.

Kai didn't look up for a few minutes, we waited patiently, we'd seen this happen to Kai before.

"Kai what did they do to you?" Spencer asked softly, Kai looked up with his wide misty eyes, but he didn't say anything. Instead he looked back down at his wrist and began to mutter again

I glanced worriedly at Bryan, Kai was a mess. This had done more damage to him than just physically. Mentally this could potentially be worse than his entire childhood being spent within the cold walls of the Abbey.

"Alone" he whispered and looked at Bryan

"Wha?" Spencer asked

"…I was alone…" he looked into space as he spoke "there was no one" he shuddered

"They left you?" Bryan asked warily

Kai closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

I moved to pull Kai into a hug, but he cringed away from the contact, most probably another one of Boris' or Voltaire's cruel ways to break down his defences and control him. I felt nauseous thinking about what Boris would've been allowed to do, but didn't ask Kai, I didn't need to…I knew already.

"Kai' I'm not going to touch you" he relaxed and sat back against the pillows. They left him alone, for weeks on end, only bringing him out to torture him. I cringed wondering how Kai hadn't gone out of his mind...although I was beginning to debate whether he was completely sane.

"I'll be back in a minute" Bryan slipped out of the room silently; he must be going to explain to a nurse, and to the other teams. Spencer followed silently without a word.

"Don't worry Kai, you'll be fine" I soothed as Kai relaxed. His head flopped back into his pillows. His red hair flopped in his face.

"I've missed you" he said softly, I nodded

"I know" I replied and brushed his hair off his face. "I can't imagine what you've been through Kai" I spoke softly. It was true; I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be kept in solitary confinement for every hour of every day unless I was taken out to be experimented on or tortured. Back in the Abbey we at least had each other.

"You're lucky" he said sincerely.

He closed his eyes slowly and eventually he fell asleep, I could tell by the slowing of his heart, indicated by the monitor.

The other teens all came back into the room only fifteen minutes after he'd fallen asleep, they all took up the seats and quiet chatter filled the room…it would be nice for Kai to wake up to some voices, rather than a silent black cell, or possibly next to Boris.

XXX

After only half an hour, Kai shot upright with an ear piercing shriek, his heart monitor spiked and his breath was ragged and raspy. I watched him carefully; his eyes darted around the room scanning every single detail.

Everyone had jumped at the sudden noise, and watched him as he tried to compose himself.

"Kai?" Ray asked carefully. Kai looked at him suddenly, not saying anything and after a few moments flopped back onto the bed, hissing in pain as his shoulder hit the mattress.

"Are you alright?" Tyson asked warily. Kai didn't respond, he just stared at the ceiling. A nurse walked in moments later

"Kai?" he looked over without moving his head hearing the new voice "Sweetheart, if you're up for it we can sort your shoulder out" she smiled as Kai looked back up at the ceiling

"Yes" he nodded.

"Are you sure you can handle this?" she checked carefully, not wanting him to feel pressured

"It's fine" his voice cracked as he spoke and she looked around the room indicating everyone to leave, all but me of course

They left without a word and she sat next to his bed "You can wait, if you like" he moved his head slightly

"No. I'm fine" he replied.

"Kai…you've had a lot of experiments done recently" I supplied "are you sure you don't want to wait for any drugs or effects to wear off?" He shook his head.

"Well, I'll get you ready for surgery then" she smiled and pulled out a needle loaded with something clear…in the Abbey, Kai had been petrified of needles, yet he didn't even flinch as she pushed the sharp needle into his skin.

His eyes began to droop and his breathing became shallower, he surprisingly fought it for a few minutes, he forced his eyes open and took deeper breaths. "Kai relax, this isn't an experiment, you can go to sleep" I reassured him. He looked at me and allowed his eyes to slide shut with a sigh.

XXX

I stayed inside Kai's room, waiting for him to be brought back from theatre. I must have dozed off as I was woken when the bed was wheeled in with Kai pale as the sheets, breathing shallowly into the mask covered his mouth and nose.

"What happened?" I asked jumping up, worried at the state he was in

"We almost lost him" she explained "He's fine now, completely stable" I nodded and sat back down

"He'll be coming round in an hour or so I suspect" she smiled and left the room, giving all the bags of liquids and blood attached to Kai a last check to make sure everything was working.

She left the room silently, leaving me with only Kai's shallow breathing.

XXX

I nodded off and woke up as Ray, Michael, Robert and Max walked into the room.

"Is he ok?" Max asked worriedly

"Yeah" I lied easily, it didn't seem appropriate to tell them he had nearly died "He's fine" I smiled "just waiting for him to come round, should be soon"

Ray nodded and sat down "the others went back to the Dojo for a bit" he explained the lack of other team members.

I nodded.

After a while Kai began to stir, he slowly opened his eyes, blinking the confusion away. He looked around the room and began to shift himself to a sitting position. I laid my hand on his good shoulder and shook my head "you need to rest Kai" I explained. He said nothing but lay back down and stared blankly at the ceiling.

He spent most of the rest of the day drifting in and out of consciousness, only awakening when he needed more painkillers, which was usually every hour or so.

"I'm afraid you'll have to leave for the night" a nurse said as she poked her head around the door. The other got up and I did slowly as well. I began to leave when I pale cool hand grabbed my wrist tightly.

"I'm sorry, he can't stay" The nurse apologized…

"No you don't understand" I protested but she ignored me

"Young man if you don't leave I'll call security" I sighed

"I'll be back tomorrow Kai" I muttered and pulled my hand from his cold iron-like grip. He looked helplessly as I left the room. The nurse shut the door and locked it with a click. "We're keeping this locked because these clearly were not injuries caused by accident" she explained, I nodded

"I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow" she smiled and walked off, leaving us to make our way home.

XXX

I woke up to the sound of the phone ringing…it was only 6.32am.

Tyson groggily picked the phone up

"Hello?" he yawned

"Oh hello nurse" Tyson blinked a few times "Tala? Yeah here he is" he handed the phone to me

"Hello?" I asked worriedly

"Hello, Tala, we need you to come down to the hospital" I looked around the group of teens now waiting anxiously for me to explain what was wrong

"What's happened?" I asked calmly

"We think Kai's developed a severe phobia, he had a bit of an episode last night" I kept my face indifferent

"Right. Is he ok now?" I asked getting angry that he wasn't cared for better

"Right now no. he's asking for you" I nodded

"I'll be there as soon as I can" I replied and hung up "We have to go now. Kai had a problem last night." I gave my explanation calmly to not cause too much panic

XXX

We arrived at the hospital only half an hour or so later. A nurse was waiting and took us straight up to the room. We all peered through the glass; Kai was curled up in the corner of the room, rocking himself back and forth, there was dry blood on his arms, presumably where he'd ripped the IV's out.

"Why haven't you helped him? You've clearly not even been in there yet" I snarled angrily

"We're not sure how he'll react if it isn't you" she replied calmly "He gets quite violent when we go near him when you aren't there"

I sighed and unlocked the door, stepping in quietly and closing the door and the blinds on the window of the room, stopping the others from watching.

Kai didn't look up as I walked in…the room was dark with the blinds closed and the curtains pulled shut.

"Kai?" I stepped forward cautiously

He finally looked up at me, "Is the door locked?" he whispered, I shook my head and he relaxed slightly. "And the nurses?" he asked

"They're just outside, with the Bry, Spence and the others" I replied, he nodded but didn't move. I walked over and sat down next to him

"Kai are you ok?" I looked at him carefully. His misty eyes stared at the floor for a long while

He just shrugged lightly to keep his just-operated-on shoulder still. I sighed as Kai wrapped his arms loosely round his knees, which were pulled up to his chest. They had wrapped up his wrongly-healed wrist for the time being, allowing his shoulder to heal before they started re-breaking his wrist to fix it.

He stared at the ground, I only then noticed the bandage on his head had been taken off, revealing a large purple bruise surrounding a deep gash which had been stitched up, hidden underneath all his hair. I cringed wondering how that had ended up there. He looked at me briefly and then back at the cold white floor of the room.

"The other's are worried about you, y'know?" I said, he looked at me again

"I don't see why" he replied lifelessly "I'm safe" he blinked and continued to stare at the floor.

"Kai, you're a state" I replied, bluntly, he shrugged and hissed as his shoulder moved a little too far

"I'm fine" he replied again with little emotion in his voice

"They're WORRIED!" I raised my voice, Kai flinched away from me and stared with wide eyes at me for a few moments before relaxing. I cringed seeing the great Kai Hiwatari cringe.

"Now, let's get you sorted and cleaned up" I suggested and helped him to his feet, which was easy considering how small and thin he was now.

"We'll get you through this Kai" He looked at me and shook his head before sitting back on the bed. I pulled the curtains open.

After pulling the covers back over him, I opened the blinds, the nurse walked in a few moments later – probably having heard me moving the blinds around.

"Now then, let's replace these needles shall we?" she hummed while she replaced all the drips into Kai's arms and acted as if nothing had happened as the teens walked into the room quietly. Kai remained indifferent as she wiped the dried blood off his arms and replaced all the i.v's. He watched the hand on clock tick around slowly, not saying anything.

She smiled "Right then Kai, you're all good to go, now get some rest, you didn't sleep much last night" she left the room without another word. Kai continued to watch the hands of the clock tick by.

"Are you ok?" Max asked, Kai didn't move his eyes from the clock. Max looked at me helplessly, and I shrugged not knowing what to do.

Mr. Dickenson at that moment popped his head inside the door "Ah Kai m'boy! I'm glad I caught you awake!" he walked inside and sat down next to Kai, who didn't move his eyes from the clock.

"Kai?" he asked again, said bluenette looked at the older man slowly

"Now I have our attention" he said slowly "There is the small problem of your wrist" Kai's eyes flickered down to his wrapped up wrist quickly before settling back on Stanley's face "Being only 15, you don't have the final choice in this. I do. However I feel that it would be best to allow you to make the decision" Kai's eyes narrowed "Now would you like to have your wrist fixed now, or leave it a few more days or a week?" Mr. Dickenson waited patiently for Kai's reply

"Now" was all Kai said quietly.

"Are you sure? You're already on a lot of painkillers for your shoulder and we don't want you to overdo it Kai. There's only so much morphine we can give you in one dose" Kai looked at the clock and back to Mr. Dickenson

"Now" he repeated. Mr. Dickenson struggled to keep his face composed. He clearly wanted Kai to wait

"But Kai!" he protested

Kai didn't look at him; instead he slipped back into his emotionless state

Mr. Dickenson nodded and left the room, unhappy with the decision, but he had told Kai that the decision was up to him, so there was nothing that could be done.

XXX

"Hello Kai" A nurse walked in about an hour after Mr. Dickenson had left "Mr. Dickenson has explained that you'd like your wrist to be sorted now" Kai looked at her and gave a slight nod in response.

"Ok now the procedure will be painful." She looked at his wrist and carried on "We'll be re-breaking both bones in your wrist which have begun to heal wrong" Kai didn't respond "you'll be awake" she stated, Kai's eyes flickered to her face and then settled on the bed sheets "It'll be as quick as possible, then we'll wrap your wrist up to help everything heal correctly" Kai nodded again.

"Shall we go?" she asked, Kai looked at her

"Yes" he replied quietly.

She smiled and sorted out the wires and drips before wheeling the bed from the room "Oh, would you like anyone else with you?" Kai glanced at her and then fixed his eyes on me. I nodded and followed.

XXX

Kai was lying down with his hand up on a table next to his bed. The room was lit only by cold artificial lights. He stared up at the ceiling while the two doctors and the single nurse spoke quickly about the procedure.

"Right then Kai. This will be as quick and painless as we can make it" One doctor spoke

"Try not to flinch" the other added

The nurse looked at him "We'll give you some morphine now, but it won't kick in till after everything is plastered up" Kai nodded and continued to stare at the ceiling.

I sat next to him, the opposite side to his broken wrist. I studied his face as the doctors began to slowly move his wrist, I couldn't bear to watch them snap it. The nurse gave him a quick injection of morphine and the doctors began to get ready.

Kai's face remained passive; he didn't seem scared or worried.

A loud snap filled the room, Kai didn't flinch. I glanced up as the doctors snapped his wrist again, this time it was louder. I felt myself flinch hearing Kai's bones crack in two.

"Ok Kai, last one" The doctor looked uneasy doing this but none the less he gave Kai's wrist a hard yank and another loud crunch filled the room. I could see the pain in Kai's eyes, but he didn't make a sound, nor did he move at all.

"Are you ok?" I asked, Kai stared blankly at the ceiling and I realised I wouldn't get any answer, aside from the small whimper that escaped his lips moments later.

I shook my head in worry as the doctors quickly began to plaster his wrist up.

XXX

Kai had fallen asleep after receiving some sedation from the doctors. He was stirring after 4 or 5 hours of sleep.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room, he was very clearly in pain, and he was due his next lot of morphine but hadn't been awake to press the button to get it. He slowly let his breath out as he moved his arm.

"Alright Kai?" Tyson asked, Kai remained indifferent "We were just talking about the bladebreakers" he continued as if Kai was responding "When you're back as captain, we can start training again. And enter the next tournament, the worlds again!" he said enthusiastically…Kai didn't respond. Tyson's face fell slightly but he didn't let it ruin his mood too much

"We could all go on holiday Kai! That could be fun!" Max suggested "We could all go! Every team, to somewhere really nice!"

"That's a great idea!" Mariah smiled widely "We can get some brochures and all decide where to go!"

Kai didn't respond to the conversation. This was becoming a worryingly frequent habit. "We could go get the brochures right now!" Emily suggested, Mariah grinned and the girls left quickly

XXX

The came back about an hour later with 3 bags filled with magazines from the nearest few travel agencies.

Soon the room was scattered with brochures and magazines. It was decided that everyone was to pick a country, and from there we'd decide based on how many choices were shared by people etc.

XXX

"Ok" Emily began "The 3 choices left are America, China or France" The group all looked between us

After much effort China was ruled out, which left France and America.

"Well this isn't working; we're completely split down the middle!" Emily moaned

"I Think Kai should be allowed to choose" Ray suggested

Kai was watching the group silently, but didn't open his mouth at all

"Yeah, it's only fair, he's been through the most" Tyson replied, Kai remained completely still and emotionless

"Where do you want to go to then Kai?" Emily asked

He looked at the wall for a few moments and spoke so softly I nearly didn't hear him "America", it was the first time I'd heard him speak in so long.

"YES!" Tyson punched the air, "Now to decide WHERE in America!"

"NEW YORK!" Emily and Mariah squealed in unison

"I think that decides it then" Ray smiled softly. Kai rolled over softly in his bed, turning his face away from everyone. He curled up slightly and didn't move for a while. Eventually conversations broke out within the groups and Kai was left in peace.

"I can see my mum again!" Max smiled at the thought, his mum had left during the tournament due to some problems back in America and he hadn't had a chance to see her again since everything had happened.

I looked at Bryan as Kai fell asleep, his heart slowed down as did his quiet breathing. Everyone was beginning to worry at his lack of interest in anything.

XXX

"Maybe we should call Mr. Dickenson about all this?" Mariah suggested as the flicked through a hotel brochure for New York. "He'll probably end up paying" she giggled happily.

"Yeah, I'll go talk to him, he's with the doctors I think" I suggested, partly because I wanted to hear what the doctors had to say about Kai

I left the room and wandered down the corridors and found Mr. Dickenson and Bruce talking to some doctors.

"We're going to have to sedate him soon" one spoke quickly. I approached them from behind so they hadn't yet noticed I was here

"Sedate him…why?" Bruce asked

"He's not sleeping at all. As soon as he's on his own he changes completely" a nurse explained

"How do you mean?" Mr. Dickenson asked

"He's petrified." She replied shortly "He sits and rocks back and forth, he's hardly slept since he's been here and this is doing him far more damage than good, his shoulder is healing at a slow rate and he's not taking his tablets either, we don't think" she continued

"Oh, Tala!" Mr. Dickenson smiled

"Kai's scared of being alone?" I repeated slowly

"As far as we can tell, yes" The nurse glanced at the doctors "Maybe you could talk to him?" I shook my head

"I'm not sure there's anything I can say that'll make it better" I replied honestly "Whatever happened over the last 4 weeks is something Kai isn't about to share with me." The nurses nodded

"We thought you'd say that" Mr. Dickenson replied for them "Can you at least try to talk to him?" he asked

"He's not really listening anymore but I can try" I replied

"Thank you Tala, now was there something you wanted or was it just to ask about Kai?" he asked

"Oh, well we were all thinking of going to New York for a vacation, maybe it'll help Kai" Mr. Dickenson smiled

"That's a wonderful idea!" He beamed, I grinned and then went to leave

"And I'm sure the BBA has some cash to spare, after all it is to benefit Kai's recovery" he winked and smiled as I left.

I wandered back to the room and sat down slowly, everyone was talking softly about what they wanted to do in New York that they didn't even realise I was back.

"Oh, Tala!" Mariah chirped as she noticed I was here a few moments later

"Mr. Dickenson said the BBA could probably pay" I reported back, Mariah and Emily squealed in delight. I glanced at Kai who sat staring blankly at a brochure which had been thrown over for him to read. After a few minutes of quiet chatter Kai tossed the brochure on the table and lay down softly closing his eyes slowly. I looked around the room; Mariah, Ray, Lee, Max and Robert were all looking at Kai with concern.

Kai wasn't asleep but he was close. He didn't fall asleep for a good 15 minutes until he drifted off lightly…

"He's definitely not right" Ray spoke quietly, I looked at Kai and back to Ray "I hope this holiday helps him" he continued

"I'm sure it will" Lee commented "Kai's made of strong stuff"

The room fell into a comfortable silence, the only noise was the shuffling of paper and Kai's soft breathing, which in a short space of time sped up and became slightly raspy. Everyone looked over as Kai grabbed the bed sheets tightly with his good hand, his knuckles turning white. He began to mumble incoherently in quick Russian, which switched between the countless languages he knew.

He settled with mumbling quietly in Japanese and everyone began to read their magazines, when suddenly he shot up is his bed, eyes wide with fear and breathing deeply. Tyson jumped at the sudden movement, but Kai didn't even notice.

He stared at the wall in front of him for a good few moments and eventually calmed down and sunk back into his pillows, running his good hand through his red hair. His eyes darted around the ceiling as the thought about whatever the dream was.

Tyson started a conversation to get rid of the awkwardness filling them room, and soon everyone took his lead leaving Kai to his thoughts

I crept over quietly and spoke to him without the others being able to hear "Everything ok?" I whispered

He look away and stared at the window for a long time and I knew I wouldn't get anything out of him.

I sighed as Kai continued to stare out the window. It was beginning to get late and I knew that soon we'd be chucked out of the hospital for the night.

"How long shall we go to New York for?" Tyson asked the group

"I think the more pressing problem is WHEN do we go? I mean, they aren't just going to let Kai walk out of here" Ray replied

"Oh yeah, good point Ray!" Mariah smiled "we'll just talk to the nurses!" she smiled and stood up

"Tomorrow" Lee smiled as she sat down.

Kai didn't speak for the rest of the night and eventually a nurse came to ask us to leave. Kai made no attempt to keep any one of us there so we assumed he didn't want anyone around and we left.

XXX

The subject of Kai was avoided all night, no one wanted to talk about the absent minded youngest teen.

We all fell asleep in the living room fairly late wondering if he would've improved by the morning

XXX

Bruce woke us up at about 10am the next morning. I sighed and stretched as he began to speak

"Guys, Kai's not going to be able to see you today" he said "he's having some more surgery done and will be out of it for the rest of the day…besides I think you should have the day off, it's not fair to keep you seeing your ill friend all the time" he smiled softly and left

"Wow, what should we do today?" Tyson asked "We haven't had a day off to do what we want in a while"

"Cinema?" Max suggested "There's probably something good showing today?"

I sighed and got myself ready for the day. I didn't have any intention of going to see a film – I was going to use this chance to talk to Bryan and Spencer about everything.

"Who's up for the cinema then?" Tyson asked with a grin, the majority of the group put their hands up – which was good, it made it easier for me to get away from the few left behind.

XXX

I leant against a large tree in the park. Bryan and Spencer stood next to me.

"What are we going to do?" Bryan broke the silence

"He's not listening to you Tala" Spencer added

"I know. I'll try one last time, but I don't think I'm going to get anything out of him" Spencer nodded

"What about this holiday idea?" Bryan asked, I shook my head

"Not going to help" they agreed with nods "But the others may as well try to help him" I continued "Although, I'm not sure exactly how long it's going to take to get him remotely close to normal again"

"Maybe we should go see him today? See if we can get through to him?" Bryan asked, we agreed and soon began to short walk to the hospital.

We walked into the lift and as the doors were closing – a familiar nurse jogged up and came into the lift with us

"I'm glad you're here!" she began, I raised my eyebrow "We need someone to talk to Kai, he's being particularly stubborn today"

"I thought he was going into surgery again?" Spencer asked

"He already has, it was nothing major, he's awake now but specifically asked that no one sees him" she replied warily "So, I shouldn't be allowing you to see him"

"We won't tell anyone" Bryan replied

"Good." She smiled warmly "I just need you to talk him round, you know, he's refused painkillers all last night and today, and he won't take any of his tablets" I glanced at Bryan worriedly

"So…he's getting worse?" I asked warily

"Yes, I'm afraid so." She replied as the lift stopped on the floor and we began to walk to Kai's room "We can't possibly help him if he doesn't help himself" I nodded and she ducked into the nurses' office on the corridor. We walked to his room and slowly pushed the door open.

He looking at us as we walked in – which I supposed was better than him not even realising we had entered the room.

"Kai" I smiled softly "How are you?" he didn't reply, just watched us as we sat around the room

"Feeling ok after earlier?" Bryan asked, again Kai didn't answer. He looked paler than usual, his cobalt blue tattoos stood out against his translucent-looking skin. His red hair hung limply around his hollow cheeks. I cringed at the state he was getting into

"Did you want some food? I could go ask for some?" I asked, Kai's eyes focused on me and it was only then that I realised he wasn't really looking at us at all before. He looked away but I was persistent "Are you hungry?" I asked again, Kai didn't respond

"Kai?" I asked again "Are you listening?" I paused for a few moments "Kai?" eventually my persistence paid off and he slowly turned his head to look at me

"Do you want something to eat?" I asked again, I could see he was beginning to get slightly angry, but he wasn't showing that at all in his facial expression – it was all in his eyes, which usually emotionless and dull now held the anger I knew all too well when Kai bottled things up.

"No" he said slowly – and surprisingly without any emotion in his words. He watched me slowly and the anger faded and his eyed became dull once again.

"You know everyone is worried about you?" Bryan attempted to get him to respond, Kai looked away to the window "you're really scaring everyone" he continued "You don't talk Kai, you don't even look at us half the time" Kai continued to stare out the window "Are you even listening to what I'm saying?!" I gave Bryan a look that clearly told him not to lose his temper "LOOK AT ME KAI!" he bellowed

Kai visibly flinched away and stared with wide eyes at Bryan. "Sorry Kai" Bryan said – though his words were strained as he tried to relax

"Get out" Kai said emotionlessly

"Huh?" I asked confused

"Get out" he repeated and looked back out the window

"Kai" I began to reason

"GET OUT!" he shouted – his voice cracked and the heart monitor spiked and sped up he returned to his passive state same as before and his heart rate slowed as he sank back into the pillows

A nurse – hearing the commotion came into the room

"Kai stated no visitors!" she scolded "Who allowed you inside?!" she asked angrily

"No one" we replied – keeping true to our word…

"Well you have to leave now" I didn't argue and we left – I definitely owed Bryan a punch

XXX

We found Mr. Dickenson in the local BBA office and explained what had happened – and came to the conclusion that keeping this from the others would be best… Kai would be ok in the morning.

However, we realised that we had done far more damage than we originally comprehended when he refused to see any visitors the next day

And the day after

And the days after that

For nearly 3 weeks.

**Hehe – I'll leave it there as it's been a while since I've updated – exams etc. but I'm done now so hopefully should get the next few updates fairly quickly – I hope :D**

**I'm trying not to allow myself to let Kai get OOC. And this was the only route that seemed to work well with that – however I do have things planned so all is well in my world, not in Kai's however *giggles evilly* **

**Don't forget to review 'kay?**

**xflightofthephoenix**


	10. Life Goes On

**Tala's POV**

It had been months since we'd seen Kai, he'd refused to talk to us, see us or anyone for that matter. And he was due to be discharged from hospital soon…where would he go?

Mr. Dickenson came bumbling into the back yard of the Dojo and called me inside.

"Kai's asked to see you" He grinned, we'd been waiting for this for far too long. I smiled and headed straight for the hospital, alone.

XXX

"Ah, Tala, how are you? It's good to see you again" Kai's nurse greeted me. I smiled

"It's nice to have an invite this time" The nurse grinned in agreement

"This way then, it's nice to see you rather than the other visitors he's had since you last were allowed to see him!" she showed me to Kai's room and left me at the door, I wondered briefly who else could've visited Kai but pushed the thought to the back of my mind.

I slowly walked in, Kai was sitting up, he was still pale, as usual, and still very thin, but he looked healthier overall.

I smiled "Hi, Kai" He looked over at me with his intense crimson eyes

"Kai, I've missed you" I said honestly, I really had but I'd been turned away every time I tried to see him. He didn't say anything in reply, I think he just wanted to see a friendly face.

"When do you leave?" I asked him, he glanced at the clock and looked back at me

"In a few hours" he replied hoarsely. He must've kept silent for a long time. I let my mouth fall open slightly. Kai remained expressionless but I didn't expect much more.

"Are you coming back to the Dojo?" I asked, he nodded and stared out the window

"You know Kai, things will get easier. I know Susumu and Voltaire are out there somewhere but you'll be fine" Kai looked at me silently and nodded softly.

"Did you want me to stay until you leave" Kai again nodded and I sat down next to him. He looked to be so much comfier now, his shoulder and wrist must be nearly completely healed, and I assumed his knee cap was ok now too.

XXX

Soon enough the nurse helped Kai to get himself sorted and he was ready to leave. We got a taxi back to the Dojo, Kai was having to use a crutch to help him walk for now and it was unfair not to get him a lift. He was obviously in some pain, using his shoulder to lean on the crutch and his wrist to hold it, but he didn't complain once.

We arrived at the dojo and Kai slowly walked up to the front door. Ray opened the door, Banners were strung up all over the house, every one was popping party poppers and cheering. Kai looked slightly taken aback by it all but kept it composed.

"Kai" Tyson grinned as we walked in. Kai didn't say anything and allowed everyone to enjoy the evening by keeping himself to himself.

XXX

After a few hours I noticed Kai wasn't in, I wasn't too worried and decided against telling the others and went to look for him myself. He was sitting on the Dojo garden wall thinking silently with his eyes closed.

"Tala" he acknowledged quietly.

"Kai" I smiled and hopped up onto the 7 foot wall quickly to sit next to him. He didn't say anything but looked up at the stars which were nicely visible in the night sky. I grinned "Just like old times eh?" I said, Kai didn't move but just continued to looked up at the sky. I didn't say anything more for a few moments.

The nights were getting colder and I felt Kai shiver slightly next to me, he was very thin so I didn't expect him to keep himself warm. Although he was rather muscular still, must have been the training he was put through before the tournament.

I sat silently for a while longer, Kai still remained silent "What are you going to do now?" I asked him, he shrugged but didn't speak.

I sighed and hopped off the wall and headed back inside, deciding it was best to just leave him be.

XXX

The next morning I woke up at roughly 7am, Kai was already up and I could hear his blade clashing around the Dojo garden, I sighed knowing how much of a machine he was forcing himself to be.

I got up slowly and wandered into the garden, Kai was doing one handed press-ups while watching his blade thunder round the garden. I grinned and walked over, Kai didn't stop exercising to speak or even acknowledge me. I sighed and let it pass and went back inside.

The day was hot, though the nights were cold, Kai was the only teen training outside in the heat. We sat around the living room where it was coolest and jut enjoyed the quiet before Tyson spoke

"Should we go out and keep Kai company?" he suggested

"Why not" Max smiled and stood up, we all slowly got up, the heat was far too much for us to be quick I decided with a smirk.

Kai was blading outside in the garden in his jeans, his top lay forgotten a few yards away. His chest was covered in old and new scars, which were more visible due to the sunlight casting small shadows all over his chest. I could see Tyson staring open mouthed out the corner of my eye so I gave him a hard nudge in the ribs to which he responded by looking away. Kai was so engrossed in his blading he obviously hadn't noticed us there, he's normally a fairly self-conscious person, knowing that his only living relatives put the scars all over his skin was probably the reason.

Suddenly snapping out of his trance, Kai noticed our presence and turned on his heel straight for his top. His back was a whole other story – it was covered in scars, large scars presumably from the whippings he received on so many occasions…from what I can remember, which is mostly everything, Kai was the only student of the Abbey to ever be used as an actual whipping post. Boris was satisfied with just using the rest of us as punching bags, Voltaire only ever dished out punishments to the worst…namely, Kai.

Kai pulled his top over the nasty scars on his side, from where he was stabbed, the scars from the various whippings, and the large scar down the side of his shoulder blade where the doctors had to remove the shattered remains of his bone and replace it with a metal copy. I cringed but Kai didn't seem overly bothered, however when he turned around his face held only anger and shame, I looked at the rest of the group, everyone was looking at Kai in extreme pity, other than us demolition boys, we know how not to piss Kai off.

Kai in one swift movement left the Dojo Garden.

I didn't realize that was the last time I would see him.

XXX

The days passed and Kai didn't return…the nights grew colder and colder, as did the days. The end of summer passed and we headed through autumn and into winter…the snow began to fall slowly but steadily, covering the garden and streets with a thin dusting of snow.

I glanced across the table, there was a newspaper laying face up – showing a picture of Kai and a title "Have you seen this boy?"

I sighed and took a sip of my coffee, the Dojo was beginning to get cold all the time due to the weather, though it was nothing compared to what we had to face in the cold winters spent in the Abbey.

I glanced at the calendar on the kitchen wall, December 11th…it had been months since anyone had heard anything from Kai, it's like he'd disappeared. And don't think we hadn't thought of Susumu, Voltaire and even Boris…but there'd been no sitings and we couldn't get in touch with Kai. Tyson and Max trudged into the room and sat down heavily next to me, it was around lunch time and everyone else was out for the day, many just to do Christmas shopping but also to search for Kai.

The shrill ring of the phone filled the room and both Max and Tyson darted into the hall to answer

"Hello?!" Tyson asked eagerly "Oh, hi Mr. D" he calmed down greatly, meaning it wasn't anything good "Yeah, yes, no, we haven't seen him, we're still looking when we're out…mhhmmm, ok yeah, no problem" Tyson put the phone down and walked back into the kitchen taking up his seat.

"Mr. D's staying here for Christmas, so is your mum" Tyson said to Max, who nodded unenthusiastically.

There hadn't been any more tournaments since the last when we realized Kai was very much alive, there was a lot of bad publicity after the pain Kai was caused during the battle, the public said it was a too dangerous sport for young teenagers to be playing.

I gulped the rest of my coffee and headed into the garden for a while, Bryan and Spencer were outside so I went over with them

XXX

The days passed ever quicker and soon it was nearly Christmas…I was dreading it, we were having a party this evening…Mr. Dickenson and Judy had arrived a few days earlier…but none of us were particularly in a good mood, this was the first Christmas without Kai in a long time.

XXX

The evening arrived quickly and the party began, loud music, alcohol the usual, for Christmas eve it was fairly good, but I just couldn't help but miss Kai…we'd always celebrated Christmas in the Abbey, Me, Kai, Bryan and Spencer.

At about 1am we all began to leave for bed and cleared up quickly, though there wasn't much mess.

XXX

Christmas morning dawned cold and crisp. I yawned and rolled over, everyone else was just waking up as well, and soon Max and Tyson had run from the room to the living room.

We all exchanged gifts, not that I was particularly bothered, the only ones that were, were Tyson and Max.

The morning dragged and dragged, I half expected sarcastic comments from Kai all the time, before I remembered he was gone.

The afternoon dragged on, and at around 5pm there was a quiet knock at the door. Everyone looked at each other, there was no one else we expected…my heart skipped a beat, it could be Kai. Tyson was (surprisingly) first and he dashed to the door.

He yanked it open with such force I thought it'd come off the hinges, but luckily not. And to my complete and total relief, there was Kai. "DUDE!" Tyson said as he went to hug Kai who took a very quick step backwards. Kai had with him a girl, she was beautiful, pale, she had long ebony hair and large green eyes. She smiled softly at us and spoke in a soft sing-song voice "Hello, I'm Leilani" she smiled a pretty smile and followed Kai as Tyson invited him inside.

"Kai!" Max grinned, Kai smiled a soft smile

"Who's the lady?" Lee grinned

"I'm his girlfriend" Leilani smiled and wrapped her arm round Kai's waist.

"You've got a girlfriend Kai?!" Max spluttered

Kai shifted his weight and unwound Leilani's arm from his waist "That's enough Lei" he said softly. She pouted and he grinned at her lovingly. I'd never seen Kai so happy.

I glanced at Bryan, he was smiling at the pair, we all were in fact, it was nice to know after all this time things were looking up for Kai.

XXX

Weeks passed, Kai spent a lot of his time with Leilani.

We began talking while the pair were out for the day

"It's nice to see Kai happy again, isn't it?" Emily said to the group, Tyson nodded enthusiastically

"Yeah, she's a top girl!" Max laughed

"She's definitely helped him improve" Mariah smiled, Lee nodded in agreement

At that moment we could hear the door open and we stopped talking, Kai and Leilani walked in hand in hand. Kai smiled at me as Leilani grinned at the group

"I have an idea guys" she grinned even wider.

I raised an eyebrow as she went to continue "I was thinking we could go away for a bit, and since Kai's got a mansion over there now I was thinking we could go to Russia?" Tyson nodded

"That's a good idea Lei" Kenny nodded in approval

"It's a lot cheaper than paying for a hotel elsewhere" Mariah grinned in agreement.

I was unwilling to agree however, would going back to Russia help?

"Kai and I talked this through and we think it's best for him to visit Russia again and face his fears" Lei continued "Running isn't what Hiwatari's do" she grinned and wrapped her arm tightly around his waist. Kai nodded in agreement

"Are you sure?" I asked, I must've been voicing the thoughts at the back of everyone's mind as they all unconsciously leaned in closer to hear.

"Yes" Kai replied and smiled at Lei. I smiled at him as he clearly had made his mind up on the situation.

"When do we go?" Lee asked

"End of the week?" Leilani suggested

"Yeah!" Mariah and Emily chorused

XXX

We found ourselves on a plane on the Sunday morning, Tyson was complaining he hadn't had enough time for breakfast and eventually a hostess brought him over a packet of crisps to keep him going on the ever so long journey. I chuckled as he devoured his snack within seconds.

"Tyson I think that was her lunch you just ate" Max giggled, Tyson looked at the empty packet and her

"Well now I feel bad!" Tyson whined loudly. Mariah chuckled. I glanced over at Kai. Leilani had carefully booked the seats so she and Kai had some privacy.

XXX

We arrived in Russia in the evening, Kai left the group, including for once Leilani, behind and went for a walk round the streets on his own. No one seemed too bothered, Leilani least of all

"Do you not want to know when he's coming home?" Max asked, she shook her head

"Why should I? He'll come home when he's good and ready" she replied with a soft smile. I nodded, she definitely had the right attitude when it came to Kai and I wondered that perhaps it was this that made them fit together so well and made Kai fall in love. Even if he may not admit it to us I could tell he was in love with her. I smiled softly as she stood up and left the room. I decided I could use a walk and a trip down memory lane, remembering all the times Kai said he'd never fall in love because it was a waste of time and he'd get hurt. I chuckled softly to myself as I closed the door slowly and walked out into the crisp night air. My feet crunched on the fresh snow which was falling gently.

I walked around some of the lanes and roads for only ten or so minutes when I came across Kai sitting on a park bench. I walked over and sat next to him. He smiled softly at me as I grinned

"Good to see you happy" I told him with an even wider grin. He shrugged and smirked

"And you Tala" he replied, I looked around the small park we were sat in. It was completely deserted. We fell into complete silence and Kai looked at the stars for a few minutes before we headed back to the mansion slowly. Kai was quiet, nut I chose not to interrupt his thoughts.

XXX

We stayed in Russia for a long time, a few months passed...Tyson entered a few small beyblading competitions without Kai – but with the rest of the team... and they won, but they were only small town competitions and the Bladebreakers were the only world class team to enter so it was expected.

Kai spent an increasing ammount of time with Leilani, and less with us. He went out for days at a time with her, or alternatively on his own. He took her out one evening for a meal, which was very unlike Kai

"He's taking her out for a fancy meal?" Max asked disbelievingly.

"Yep" Mariah grinned sweetly "I think it's cute!" She added

"Yeah" Emily agreed

"HAHA can you imagine it? It'll be all soppy romantic and then he'll get down on one knee with a diamond ring!" Tyson fell into a fit of hysterics, Max too and soon half the group was laughing. I chuckled softly as Tyson stopped and put a DVD on the television to pass time.

XX

Kai and Leilani came back hours later, and that's when I noticed a diamond ring on her wedding ring finger. My mouth fell open in shock...Kai had ACTUALLY proposed!

Mariah was the next to notice

"OH MY GOD!" she squealed "YOU'RE ENGAGED?!?!"

Every single person turned their attention to the large sparkling diamond ring on Leilani's left hand. She grinned madly and wrapped her arms around Kai like he might run away if she didn't. I smiled at Kai who had a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He left the group to train for a few hours which left us guys at the mercy of Emily Mariah and Leilani talking about the wedding.

I crept out of the room and found Kai outside training. He was running laps around the mansion after Dranzer who was slightly ahead of him. I waited for him to stop which didn't take long, he jogged over and stopped next to me.

"What gave you the idea to get married?" I asked Kai, he shrugged

"The same reason as everyone else" I smiled at him, it was very unlike him but Kai had changed a lot since everything that had happened to him. I smiled as Kai continued to train, everything was finally working itself out for Kai...

**And that's another chapter done :) Sorry it's taken so long...i still have plans for the rest of this story – it's not over just yet but you'll have to wait and see!**

**Review!!**

**xflightofthephoenix**


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